@article{RovitusoSchefflerWunschetal.2016,
  author    = {Rovituso, Damiano M. and Scheffler, Laura and Wunsch, Marie and Kleinschnitz, Christoph and D{\"o}rck, Sebastian and Ulzheimer, Jochen and Bayas, Antonios and Steinman, Lawrence and Erg{\"u}n, S{\"u}leyman and Kuerten, Stefanie},
  title     = {CEACAM1 mediates B cell aggregation in central nervous system autoimmunity},
  series = {Scientific Reports},
  volume    = {6},
  journal   = {Scientific Reports},
  doi       = {10.1038/srep29847},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-147690},
  pages     = {29847},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {B cell aggregates in the central nervous system (CNS) have been associated with rapid disease progression in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Here we demonstrate a key role of carcinoembryogenic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule1 (CEACAM1) in B cell aggregate formation in MS patients and a B cell-dependent mouse model of MS. CEACAM1 expression was increased on peripheral blood B cells and CEACAM1\(^+\) B cells were present in brain infiltrates of MS patients. Administration of the anti-CEACAM1 antibody T84.1 was efficient in blocking aggregation of B cells derived from MS patients. Along these lines, application of the monoclonal anti-CEACAM1 antibody mCC1 was able to inhibit CNS B cell aggregate formation and significantly attenuated established MS-like disease in mice in the absence of any adverse effects. CEACAM1 was co-expressed with the regulator molecule T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain -3 (TIM-3) on B cells, a novel molecule that has recently been described to induce anergy in T cells. Interestingly, elevated coexpression on B cells coincided with an autoreactive T helper cell phenotype in MS patients. Overall, these data identify CEACAM1 as a clinically highly interesting target in MS pathogenesis and open new therapeutic avenues for the treatment of the disease.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{RovitusoDuffySchroeteretal.2015,
  author    = {Rovituso, Damiano M. and Duffy, Catharina E. and Schroeter, Michael and Kaiser, Claudia C. and Kleinschnitz, Christoph and Bayas, Antonios and Elsner, Rebecca and Kuerten, Stefanie},
  title     = {The brain antigen-specific B cell response correlates with glatiramer acetate responsiveness in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients},
  series = {Scientific Reports},
  volume    = {5},
  journal   = {Scientific Reports},
  number    = {14265},
  doi       = {10.1038/srep14265},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-148172},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {B cells have only recently begun to attract attention in the immunopathology of multiple sclerosis (MS). Suitable markers for the prediction of treatment success with immunomodulatory drugs are still missing. Here we evaluated the B cell response to brain antigens in n = 34 relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients treated with glatiramer acetate (GA) using the enzyme-linked immunospot technique (ELISPOT). Our data demonstrate that patients can be subdivided into responders that show brain-specific B cell reactivity in the blood and patients without this reactivity. Only in patients that classified as B cell responders, there was a significant positive correlation between treatment duration and the time since last relapse in our study. This correlation was GA-specific because it was absent in a control group that consisted of interferon-\(\beta\) (IFN-\(\beta\))-treated RRMS patients (n = 23). These data suggest that GA has an effect on brain-reactive B cells in a subset of patients and that only this subset benefits from treatment. The detection of brain-reactive B cells is likely to be a suitable tool to identify drug responders.},
  language  = {en}
}