Proinflammatory CD20+ T cells in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis

Abstract

With the discovery that the highly effective anti-CD20 antibody therapies developed to deplete CD20⁺ B cells deplete CD20⁺ T cells equally well, a great interest in the biological properties of CD20⁺ T cells has emerged. In this study we show that CD20⁺ T cells have a proinflammatory Th1/Tc1 phenotype with a high proliferative capacity to CNS antigens. We also found that the percentage of CD20⁺ T cells is increased in the blood of patients with multiple sclerosis and are enriched in the CSF of the patients. Furthermore, we found a positive correlation between CD20⁺ T cells in the CSF and multiple sclerosis disease severity and see that regulation of CD20⁺ T cells likely contributes to the positive treatment effect of the multiple sclerosis treatment alemtuzumab. These data represent an important contribution to the understanding of the nature of CD20⁺ T cells and strongly suggests a role of CD20⁺ T cells in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis.

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