TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wunsch, Marie
A1  - Hohmann, Christopher
A1  - Milles, Bianca
A1  - Rostermund, Christina
A1  - Lehmann, Paul V.
A1  - Schroeter, Michael
A1  - Bayas, Antonios
A1  - Ulzheimer, Jochen
A1  - Mäurer, Mathias
A1  - Ergün, Süleyman
A1  - Kuerten, Stefanie
T1  - The Correlation between the Virus- and Brain Antigen-Specific B Cell Response in the Blood of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis
JF  - Viruses
N2  - There is a largely divergent body of literature regarding the relationship between Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and brain inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS). Here, we tested MS patients during relapse (n = 11) and in remission (n = 19) in addition to n = 22 healthy controls to study the correlation between the EBV- and brain-specific B cell response in the blood by enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Cytomegalovirus (CMV) was used as a control antigen tested in n = 16 MS patients during relapse and in n = 35 patients in remission. Over the course of the study, n = 16 patients were untreated, while n = 33 patients received immunomodulatory therapy. The data show that there was a moderate correlation between the frequencies of EBV- and brain-reactive B cells in MS patients in remission. In addition we could detect a correlation between the B cell response to EBV and disease activity. There was no evidence of an EBV reactivation. Interestingly, there was also a correlation between the frequencies of CMV- and brain-specific B cells in MS patients experiencing an acute relapse and an elevated B cell response to CMV was associated with higher disease activity. The trend remained when excluding seronegative subjects but was non-significant. These data underline that viral infections might impact the immunopathology of MS, but the exact link between the two entities remains subject of controversy.
KW  - B cells
KW  - CMV
KW  - EBV
KW  - ELISPOT
KW  - MS
Y1  - 2016
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-146946
VL  - 8
IS  - 4
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zlamy, Manuela
A1  - Almanzar, Giovanni
A1  - Parson, Walther
A1  - Schmidt, Christian
A1  - Leierer, Johannes
A1  - Weinberger, Birgit
A1  - Jeller, Verena
A1  - Unsinn, Karin
A1  - Eyrich, Matthias
A1  - Würzner, Reinhard
A1  - Prelog, Martina
T1  - Efforts of the human immune system to maintain the peripheral CD8+ T cell compartment after childhood thymectomy
JF  - Immunity & Ageing
N2  - Background
Homeostatic mechanisms to maintain the T cell compartment diversity indicate an ongoing process of thymic activity and peripheral T cell renewal during human life. These processes are expected to be accelerated after childhood thymectomy and by the influence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) inducing a prematurely aged immune system.

The study aimed to investigate proportional changes and replicative history of CD8+ T cells, of recent thymic emigrants (RTEs) and CD103+ T cells (mostly gut-experienced) and the role of Interleukin-(IL)-7 and IL-7 receptor (CD127)-expressing T cells in thymectomized patients compared to young and old healthy controls.

Results
Decreased proportions of naive and CD31 + CD8+ T cells were demonstrated after thymectomy, with higher proliferative activity of CD127-expressing T cells and significantly shorter relative telomere lengths (RTLs) and lower T cell receptor excision circles (TRECs). Increased circulating CD103+ T cells and a skewed T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire were found after thymectomy similar to elderly persons. Naive T cells were influenced by age at thymectomy and further decreased by CMV.

Conclusions
After childhood thymectomy, the immune system demonstrated constant efforts of the peripheral CD8+ T cell compartment to maintain homeostasis. Supposedly it tries to fill the void of RTEs by peripheral T cell proliferation, by at least partly IL-7-mediated mechanisms and by proportional increase of circulating CD103+ T cells, reminiscent of immune aging in elderly. Although other findings were less significant compared to healthy elderly, early thymectomy demonstrated immunological alterations of CD8+ T cells which mimic features of premature immunosenescence in humans.
KW  - thymectomy
KW  - naive T cells
KW  - TRECs
KW  - TCR diversity
KW  - CMV
KW  - CD8
KW  - telomeres
Y1  - 2016
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-146497
VL  - 13
IS  - 3
ER  -