title: Association of Th1/Th2-related chemokine receptors in peripheral T cells with disease activity in patients with multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica.
abstract: We evaluated 30 patients with clinically definite multiple sclerosis (MS) and 8 patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO) to investigate correlations between Th1/Th2 balance, disease activity, effects of interferon (IFN)-β treatment, and expressions of chemokine receptors CXCR3 and CCR4 on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood. MS and NMO patients in the relapsing phase showed a significantly increased CD4+CXCR3+/CD4+CCR4+ ratio and CD8+CXCR3+/CD8+CCR4+ ratio compared with respective patients in the remission phase. After IFN-β treatment, the CD4+CXCR3+/CD4+CCR4+ ratio and CD8+CXCR3+/CD8+CCR4+ ratio were significantly decreased compared with the relapsing phase and slightly lower than in the remission phase. The CD8+CXCR3+/CD8+CCR4+ ratio showed a more marked change associated with disease activity than CD4+ T cells in MS and NMO patients. Moreover, in patients in the relapsing phase of NMO, the CD4+CXCR3+/CD4+CCR4+ ratio and CD8+CXCR3+/CD8+CCR4+ ratio were significantly higher than in MS patients in the relapsing phase. We confirmed marked changes in the CD8+CXCR3+/CD8+CCR4+ ratio according to disease activity and treatment of MS and NMO. Furthermore, this ratio was more strongly linked to immune and inflammatory activity in NMO patients than in MS patients, and may represent an important factor in differentiating the pathogenesis of MS and NMO.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tokyo Women's Medical University School of Medicine, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan. yshimizu@nij.twmu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Kohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ota
authors.forename: Sachiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: Chiaki
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kabasawa
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohashi
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Uchiyama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D009471:Neuromyelitis Optica / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D054367:Receptors, CXCR3 / Q000378:metabolism; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4 / Q000378:metabolism; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015704:CD4 Antigens; D016827:CD8 Antigens; C515187:CXCR3 protein, human; C527276:CXCR4 protein, human; D054367:Receptors, CXCR3; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine