title: Deleterious versus protective autoimmunity in multiple sclerosis.
abstract: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory and neurodegenerative disorder of central nervous system, in which myelin specific CD4(+) T cells have a central role in orchestrating pathological events involved in disease pathogenesis. There is compelling evidence that Th1, Th9 and Th17 cells, separately or in cooperation, could mediate deleterious autoimmune response in MS. However, the phenotype differences between Th cell subpopulations initially employed in MS pathogenesis are mainly reflected in the different patterns of inflammation introduction, which results in the development of characteristic pathological features (blood-brain barrier disruption, demyelination and neurodegeneration), clinically presented with MS symptoms. Although, autoimmunity was traditionally seen as deleterious, some studies indicated that autoimmunity mediated by Th2 cells and T regulatory cells could be protective by nature. The concept of protective autoimmunity in MS pathogenesis is still poorly understood, but could be of great importance in better understanding of MS immunology and therefore, creating better therapeutic strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Medical Faculty, University of Nis, Blvd. Dr. Zorana Djindjica 81, 18000 Nis, Serbia. Electronic address: milosh.kostic@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Milos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kostic
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, University of Nis, Blvd. Dr. Zorana Djindjica 81, 18000 Nis, Serbia.
authors.forename: Ivana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Stojanovic
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Medical Faculty, University of Nis, Blvd. Dr. Zorana Djindjica 81, 18000 Nis, Serbia.
authors.forename: Goran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marjanovic
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Medical Faculty, University of Nis, Blvd. Dr. Zorana Djindjica 81, 18000 Nis, Serbia.
authors.forename: Nikola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zivkovic
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Oncology, Clinical Centre, Blvd. Dr. Zorana Djindjica 48, 18000 Nis, Serbia.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cvetanovic
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015551:Autoimmunity; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology; D004681:Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D058504:Th17 Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines
keywords: Multiple sclerosis; Protective autoimmunity; Regulatory T cells; Th1 cells; Th17 cells; Th2 cells; Th9 cells