Abstract
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease of the central nervous system characterized by focal demyelination patches associated with inflammatory infiltrates containing T lymphocytes. For decades, CD4+ T cells have been recognized as playing a major role in the disease, especially in animal models, which has led to the development of several therapies. However, interest has recently developed in the involvement of CD8+ T cells in MS following the analysis of infiltrating T cells in human brain lesions. A broad range of evidence now suggests that the pathological role of this T cell subset in MS may have been underestimated. In this review, we summarize the literature implicating CD8+ T cells in the pathophysiology of MS. We present data from studies in the fields of genetics, anatomopathology and immunology, mainly in humans but also in animal models of MS. Altogether, this strongly suggests that CD8+ T cells may be major effectors in the disease process, and that the development of treatments specifically targeting this subset would be germane.
Highlights
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS), resulting in disability
Demyelinated patches are characterized by immune cell infiltration, which is absent in normal brain tissue
Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) alleles described as implicated in MS risk are listed with their corresponding risk factor expressed by odds ratio
Summary
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS), resulting in disability. These mice either developed (HLA*0301) or were protected from (HLA*0201) the disease after proteolipid protein (PLP) injection [18] These alleles are known to work in synergy with MHC class-II alleles, such as DRB1*1501, resulting in an increased risk when both are present [16]. These data strongly suggest that some CD8+ T cells may have a beneficial or pathogenic effect, depending on the genetic background (Table 1). MHC alleles described as implicated in MS risk are listed with their corresponding risk factor expressed by odds ratio These data are from Fogdell-Hahn et al and Harbo et al [16, 17]
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