T-cells expressing natural killer (NK) receptors are altered in multiple sclerosis and responses to α-galactosylceramide are impaired

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disorder characterised by clinical relapse and remission and pathological demyelination with varying inflammation. Because it is suggested that T-cells expressing natural killer cell receptors (NKR) play important roles in regulating human autoimmune diseases, we have quantified populations of T-cells expressing the NKR CD56, CD161 and CD94 in the peripheral blood of MS patients, in healthy control subjects (HS) and in patients with other neurological diseases (OND). CD161⁺ T-cells and CD94⁺ T-cells were significantly decreased in MS patients with primary progressive disease and secondary progressive disease respectively whereas CD56⁺ T-cell numbers were unchanged. In contrast NKT-cells that express the invariant Vα24-Jα18⁺ T-cell receptor identified here by specific receptor antibody and CD1d-tetrameric PBS57-loaded complexes, were increased in MS patients compared with HS. Reductions in CD161⁺ T-cells and CD94⁺ T-cells relative to HS were also observed in the OND group and this was particularly prominent in Parkinsonian patients. A striking functional finding was that while NKT-cells in unfractionated peripheral blood from healthy subjects expanded in number and produced IFN-γ upon stimulation with α-galactosylceramide, NKT-cells from MS patients did not. Thus we have identified alterations in a number of potentially important lymphocyte sub-populations warranting further investigation in the immune response in MS.