T-cell homeostasis in pediatric multiple sclerosis: old cells in young patients

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Item Type:	Article
Title:	T-cell homeostasis in pediatric multiple sclerosis: old cells in young patients
Creators Name:	Balint, B., Haas, J., Schwarz, A., Jarius, S., Fürwentsches, A., Engelhardt, K., Bussmann, C., Ebinger, F., Fritzsching, B., Paul, F., Seidel, U., Vlaho, S., Huppke, P., Gärtner, J. and Wildemann, B.
Abstract:	OBJECTIVE: To assess pediatric patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) for early signs of homeostatic and functional abnormalities in conventional (Tcon) and regulatory T cells (Treg). METHODS: We studied the composition of the peripheral T-cell compartment and Treg function in a cross-sectional study with 30 pediatric MS (pMS) patients by multicolor flow cytometry and proliferation assays. Data were compared to those obtained from adult patients (n = 26) and age-matched control donors (n = 67). RESULTS: Proportions of naive T cells were 10%-20% higher in children than in adults, reflecting the age-related decline. pMS patients, however, had clearly lower numbers of naive T cells, among them recent thymic emigrants (RTE), whereas percentages of memory T cells were increased. In the Treg compartment, reduced RTE numbers coincided with markedly dampened suppressive capacities of total Treg. These homeostatic changes in circulating T cells precisely paralleled the pattern seen in adult MS. As in adults, treatment with immunomodulatory drugs attenuated these alterations. CONCLUSION: The homeostatic changes detected in the T-cell compartment in pMS are similar to those in adult-onset disease. With ratios between naive and memory T-cell subsets matching those of 20- to 30-years-older controls, signs of early thymic involution are already found in pMS, suggesting that an intrinsic compromise in thymic-dependent T-cell neogenesis might contribute to MS pathogenesis.
Keywords:	Age Factors, Flow Cytometry, Homeostasis, Immunologic Factors, Immunologic Memory, Multiple Sclerosis, T-Lymphocyte Subsets, T-Lymphocytes
Source:	Neurology
ISSN:	0028-3878
Publisher:	Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Volume:	81
Number:	9
Page Range:	784-792
Date:	27 August 2013
Official Publication:	https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182a2ce0e
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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