Reduced Expression of PD-1 in Circulating CD4+ and CD8+ Tregs Is an Early Feature of RRMS

oleh: Maja Machcińska, Magdalena Kierasińska, Martyna Michniowska, Marta Maruszewska-Cheruiyot, Ludmiła Szewczak, Rafał Rola, Anna Karlińska, Michael Stear, Katarzyna Donskow-Łysoniewska

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-03-01

Deskripsi

Altered regulatory T cell (Treg) function could contribute to MS. The expression of activating and inhibitory receptors influences the activity of Tregs. Our aim was to investigate T cell phenotypes in relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) patients at an early phase of the disease. We examined the influence of demographic parameters on the distribution of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subclasses by generalized linear modeling. We also studied the expression of the following markers—CTLA-4, GITR, PD-1, FoxP3, Helios, CD28, CD62L, CD103—on T cell subsets from peripheral blood with a 14-color flow cytometry panel. We used an antibody array to define the profiles of 34 Th1/Th2/Th17 cytokines in the serum. Expression of PD-1 and GITR on CD4+ and CD8+ Tregs was decreased in RRMS patients. The proinflammatory factors IFN-<i>γ</i>, IL-17, IL-17F, TGF<i>β</i>-1, TGF<i>β</i>-3, IL-1SRII, IL-12 p40, sgp130, IL-6sR were significantly increased in RRMS patients. Therefore, a deficiency of PD-1 and GITR immune checkpoints on CD4+ and CD8+ Tregs is a feature of RRMS and might underlie impaired T cell control.