RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Teriflunomide treatment reduces B cells in patients with MS
JF Neurology - Neuroimmunology Neuroinflammation
JO Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm
FD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
SP e403
DO 10.1212/NXI.0000000000000403
VO 4
IS 6
A1 Gandoglia, Ilaria
A1 Ivaldi, Federico
A1 Laroni, Alice
A1 Benvenuto, Federica
A1 Solaro, Claudio
A1 Mancardi, Gianluigi
A1 Kerlero de Rosbo, Nicole
A1 Uccelli, Antonio
YR 2017
UL http://nn.neurology.org/content/4/6/e403.abstract
AB Objective: To study the immunomodulatory effect of teriflunomide on innate and adaptive immune cell populations through a pilot, open-label, observational study in a cohort of patients with relapsing-remitting MS.Methods: Blood lymphocytes were isolated from 10 patients with MS before and after 3 or 12 months of treatment. Adaptive and innate immune cell subsets were analyzed by flow cytometry as follows: B cells (memory, regulatory, and mature subsets), T cells (effector and regulatory subsets), and natural killer (NK) cells (CD56dim and CD56bright subsets).Results: Our results show that teriflunomide significantly reduces absolute counts of total CD19+ B cells and mature and regulatory B-cell subsets. T cells were affected to a lesser extent, with a trend in reduction of absolute counts for both T effector CD4+ cells (Th1, Th17 and Th1/17) and T regulatory CD8+ and CD4+ cells. Teriflunomide had no detectable effect on NK-cell numbers.Conclusions: In our small cohort, teriflunomide treatment affects mainly and significantly on B-cell numbers, while having a milder effect on T-cell numbers. Larger cohorts are necessary to confirm these findings and understand the effect of teriflunomide on the functionality of these cells.EDSS=Expanded Disability Status Scale; IFNγ=interferon gamma; NK=natural killer; RR-MS=relapsing-remitting MS; Teff=effector T cell; Treg=regulatory T cell