PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Evelyn Dubois
AU  - Christoph Ruschil
AU  - Felix Bischof
TI  - Low frequencies of central memory CD4 T cells in progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
AID  - 10.1212/NXI.0000000000000177
DP  - 2015 Dec 01
TA  - Neurology - Neuroimmunology Neuroinflammation
PG  - e177
VI  - 2
IP  - 6
4099  - http://nn.neurology.org/content/2/6/e177.short
4100  - http://nn.neurology.org/content/2/6/e177.full
SO  - Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm2015 Dec 01; 2
AB  - Objectives: To assess alterations in the composition of peripheral immune cells in acute progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML).Methods: Fresh blood samples from 5 patients with acute PML and 10 healthy controls were analyzed by flow cytometry for naive, central memory and effector memory CD4 and CD8 T cells, B lymphocytes, plasma cells, memory B cells, plasma blasts, and natural killer (NK) cells. The frequency of central memory CD4 T cells was determined longitudinally during the course of PML in 2 patients.Results: The frequencies of naive, central memory and effector memory CD8 T cells, B cells, plasma cells, and NK cells were not altered in patients with PML. In contrast, the frequencies of naive CD4 T cells (p = 0.04) and central memory CD4 T cells (p < 0.00001) were reduced and the frequencies of effector memory CD4 T cells were increased (p = 0.01). Longitudinal analysis showed that this pattern was preserved in a patient with fatal PML outcome and restored in one patient who recovered from PML.Conclusions: These data indicate that PML is associated with reduced frequencies of peripheral central memory helper T cells but not with alterations in the frequencies of cytotoxic T cell populations, B lymphocytes, plasma cells, or NK cells.IRIS=immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome; JCV=John Cunningham virus; NK=natural killer; PML=progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy