Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Hradec Králové, Charles University in Prague, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.
Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergology, University Hospital Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.
J Immunol Res. 2023 Apr 7;2023:4653627. doi: 10.1155/2023/4653627. eCollection 2023.
The QuantiFERON®-Monitor (QFM) is an assay that measures interferon- production and was developed to provide an objective marker of complex immune response. In this study, we evaluated the use of the QFM test in patients with two forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), relapsing-remitting form treated with fingolimod (fMS) and secondarily progressive form not treated pharmacologically (pMS), and in healthy controls (HC). We hypothesized that IFN- levels would be lower in those subjects who are relatively more immunosuppressed and higher in those with normal or activated immune function.
This single-center observational study was conducted from November 2020 to October 2021 and compared results in three groups of patients: 86 healthy controls, 96 patients with pMS, and 78 fMS. Combination of lyophilized stimulants was added to 1 ml heparinized whole blood within 8 hr of collection. Plasmatic IFN- was measured using the ELISA kit for the QFM and data were obtained in IU/ml.
The results showed that controls had nearly 2-fold higher levels of IFN- (QFM score) in median (q25, q75) 228.00 (112.20, 358.67) than the MS patient groups: pMS 144.80 (31.23, 302.00); fMS 130.50 (39.95, 217.07) which is statistically significant difference -value: HC vs. pMS = 0.0071; HC vs. fMS = 0.0468. This result was also confirmed by a validation analysis to exclude impact of variable factors, such as disease duration and Expanded Disability Status Scale scores.
Results showed that controls had higher levels of IFN- production than the MS patient groups and suggest that MS patients included in this study have a lower ability of immune system activation than HC. Results confirm that fingolimod is able to suppress production of IFN-. The fact that the QFM score of MS patients is significantly lower than that of HC may indicate a dysfunctional state of the immune system in baseline conditions.
QuantiFERON®-Monitor（QFM）是一种测量干扰素产生的检测方法，旨在提供复杂免疫反应的客观标志物。在这项研究中，我们评估了 QFM 检测在两种多发性硬化症（MS）患者中的应用，一种是用芬戈莫德治疗的复发缓解型（fMS），另一种是未接受药物治疗的继发性进展型（pMS），以及健康对照组（HC）。我们假设在相对免疫抑制的患者中 IFN- 水平较低，而在免疫功能正常或激活的患者中水平较高。
这是一项单中心观察性研究，于 2020 年 11 月至 2021 年 10 月进行，比较了三组患者的结果：86 名健康对照组、96 名 pMS 患者和 78 名 fMS 患者。采集后 8 小时内，将冻干刺激物混合物加入 1ml 肝素化全血中。使用 QFM 的 ELISA 试剂盒测量血浆 IFN-，并以 IU/ml 表示数据。
结果显示，对照组 IFN-（QFM 评分）中位数（q25，q75）为 228.00（112.20，358.67），几乎是 MS 患者组的两倍：pMS 为 144.80（31.23，302.00）；fMS 为 130.50（39.95，217.07），差异具有统计学意义 - 值：HC 与 pMS=0.0071；HC 与 fMS=0.0468。这一结果也通过验证分析得到了证实，该分析排除了疾病持续时间和扩展残疾状态量表评分等可变因素的影响。
结果表明，对照组 IFN- 的产生水平高于 MS 患者组，提示本研究纳入的 MS 患者的免疫系统激活能力低于 HC。结果证实，芬戈莫德能够抑制 IFN-的产生。MS 患者的 QFM 评分明显低于 HC，这可能表明基线条件下免疫系统处于功能失调状态。
