Abstract
The cause and the pathogenic mechanisms leading to multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS), are still under scrutiny. During the last decade, awareness has increased that multiple genetic and environmental factors act in concert to modulate MS risk. Likewise, the landscape of cells of the adaptive immune system that are believed to play a role in MS immunopathogenesis has expanded by including not only CD4 T helper cells but also cytotoxic CD8 T cells and B cells. Once the key cellular players are identified, the main challenge is to define precisely how they act and interact to induce neuroinflammation and the neurodegenerative cascade in MS. CD8 T cells have been implicated in MS pathogenesis since the 80’s when it was shown that CD8 T cells predominate in MS brain lesions. Interest in the role of CD8 T cells in MS was revived in 2000 and the years thereafter by studies showing that CNS-recruited CD8 T cells are clonally expanded and have a memory effector phenotype indicating in situ antigen-driven reactivation. The association of certain MHC class I alleles with MS genetic risk implicates CD8 T cells in disease pathogenesis. Moreover, experimental studies have highlighted the detrimental effects of CD8 T cell activation on neural cells. While the antigens responsible for T cell recruitment and activation in the CNS remain elusive, the high efficacy of B-cell depleting drugs in MS and a growing number of studies implicate B cells and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a B-lymphotropic herpesvirus that is strongly associated with MS, in the activation of pathogenic T cells. This article reviews the results of human studies that have contributed to elucidate the role of CD8 T cells in MS immunopathogenesis, and discusses them in light of current understanding of autoreactivity, B-cell and EBV involvement in MS, and mechanism of action of different MS treatments. Based on the available evidences, an immunopathological model of MS is proposed that entails a persistent EBV infection of CNS-infiltrating B cells as the target of a dysregulated cytotoxic CD8 T cell response causing CNS tissue damage.
Highlights
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) and one of the world’s most common neurological disorders
HLADR15-restricted CD4 T cell clones recognized myelin basic protein (MBP). These findings suggest that the interaction between Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR15 can induce a hyperreactive but defective CD8 T-cell response, as well CD4 T cells cross-reactive with self antigens, both events possibly concurring to MS development [105]
Using EBER in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical techniques to detect a large array of EBV latent (EBNA2, latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1), LMP2A) and lytic proteins (BZLF1, BMRF1, BFRF1, p160, gp350/220), we have provided evidence for a dysregulated, predominantly latent EBV infection in a large proportion (40 to 80%) of CNSinfiltrating B cells, including those forming ectopic B-folliclelike structures in the meninges, and for viral reactivation in up to 20% of plasmablasts/plasma cells present in active WM lesions and at the periphery of meningeal B cell follicles
Summary
Reviewed by: Trygve Holmøy, Akershus University Hospital, Norway Bert A. The cause and the pathogenic mechanisms leading to multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS), are still under scrutiny. While the antigens responsible for T cell recruitment and activation in the CNS remain elusive, the high efficacy of B-cell depleting drugs in MS and a growing number of studies implicate B cells and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a B-lymphotropic herpesvirus that is strongly associated with MS, in the activation of pathogenic T cells. This article reviews the results of human studies that have contributed to elucidate the role of CD8 T cells in MS immunopathogenesis, and discusses them in light of current understanding of autoreactivity, B-cell and EBV involvement in MS, and mechanism of action of different MS treatments.
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