Th17 Cell, the New Player of Neuroinflammatory Process in Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS), the principal inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS), is believed to have an immunopathological aetiology arising from geneenvironment interactions, affecting approximately 0.1% of the northern part of the world. The factors behind the initiation of the inflammatory responses remain unknown at present [1]. The pathological hallmarks of the MS lesion consist of local demyelination, inflammation, scar formation and variable axonal destruction. In spite of classical histopathological study and more recent intensive use of magnetic resonance technology, the MS lesion is incompletely understood [2]. It is shown that patients with MS exhibit various forms of disease with different immunopathology. These different clinical forms of MS are caused by different subsets of T helper (Th) cells, their relative proportion at the sites of inflammation, and their predominant generation of either interleukin (IL)-17 (the hallmark cytokine of Th17 cells) or interferon (IFN)? (the hallmark cytokine of Th1 cells) [3]. Th17 cells attach to brain endothelial cells better than Th1 cells which is at least in part due to the presence of CD146 on the Th17 cells [4]. Moreover, Th17 cells express high levels of molecules such as CCR6 and CD6, which enhance entry of infiltrating T cells into the CNS and have an important role in the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and probably MS [5]. These informative data lead to this question: Is MS a Th17-mediated autoimmune disease, or Th1-mediated? However, we try to clarify the precise function of Th17 cells in neuroinflammatory process in immunopathogenesis of MS and its animal experimental model, EAE in this review.

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http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3083.2011.02536.x/full

Thank you Aprilk for sharing this with us,
I'm always interested in research for MS as it is one of the most funded Auto immune disorders today. I do believe that ME is a like auto immune disorder as well.
Very interesting indeed Aprilk.