In vivo labeling of blood T cells: rapid traffic into cerebrospinal fluid in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS). In MS patients being treated with anti-T11, a murine monoclonal antibody which recognizes the sheep red blood cell receptor, it was found that peripheral blood T cells were labeled in vivo by the antibody. Furthermore, anti-T11 did not lyse cells or enter the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In CSF specimens obtained by serial lumbar punctures from patients with progressive MS who received five daily infusions of anti-T11, 70 +/- 12% of the T cells had mouse antibody bound to their surface by 72 to 96 hours. No in vivo staining of CSF T cells was observed in patients infused with anti-T4, a murine monoclonal antibody that was not found to label T cells in vivo. These results demonstrate that there is rapid movement of lymphocytes from the peripheral blood to the CNS in patients with progressive MS. This rapid trafficking of T cells suggests that the ongoing pathological process within the CNS may be closely linked to the peripheral immune system and may have implications for the monitoring and treatment of MS.