NATURE: Autoreplicating T-cells involved in MS

[frodo]

Immune-cell crosstalk in multiple sclerosis

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07063-z

T cells from people with multiple sclerosis are more prone to divide in vitro than are T cells from people without the condition. Such cell division is reminiscent of the division that occurs as the result of normal immune-cell activation by an antigen stimulus, but in this case it does not seem to require the addition of an antigen stimulus to the sample of immune cells3. This suggests either that the normal requirement for antigen recognition is being bypassed, or that these T cells recognize an antigen that is present on other immune cells in the blood sample.

Jelcic et al. investigated further, analysing in more detail the behaviour of immune cells in blood samples of people with multiple sclerosis. They convincingly demonstrate that both T cells and another type of immune cell called a B cell from these samples could proliferate when grown in vitro.

The authors term this type of division autoproliferation, because it occurs spontaneously in vitro without the addition of an antigen.