Absence of expression of OKT8 antigen on cultured human, calf and rat oligodendrocytes.

Monoclonal antibodies which recognize human suppressor T cells (OKT8) have been reported by Oger and co-workers to bind to cultured sheep oligodendrocytes. These authors speculated that an immune response directed at determinants shared by suppressor lymphocytes and oligodendrocytes could explain the decrease in both circulating blood suppressor T cells and oligodendrocytes in patients with multiple sclerosis. In view of the vital issue of potential cross-reactivity between oligodendrocytes and lymphocytes, we studied the binding of viable cultured calf, rat and human oligodendrocytes using monoclonal antibodies to human T cells and monocytes. We report here that we were unable to confirm the presence of shared determinants among oligodendrocytes and any leukocytes, including human T cells or monocytes. As the reported observations of lymphocyte-oligodendrocyte shared determinants could not be identified in three other species, including man, we found no evidence to support the hypothesis that such shared determinants are of importance in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis.