Serum levels of N-acetyl-aspartate in migraine and tension-type headache.

Serum levels of N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) may be considered a useful marker of neuronal functioning. We aimed to measure serum NAA in cohorts of migraine and tension-type headache patients versus controls, performing correlations with main clinical features. A total of 147 migraine patients (including migraine without aura, with aura and chronic migraine), 65 tension-type headache (including chronic and frequent episodic tension-type headache) and 34 sex- and age-matched controls were selected.

Dopaminergic modulation of CD4+CD25(high) regulatory T lymphocytes in multiple sclerosis patients during interferon-β therapy.

Objective: We investigated dopaminergic inhibition of CD4+CD25(high) regulatory T lymphocytes (Treg) in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) patients treated with interferon (IFN)-β.

Methods: MS patients were prospectively studied at baseline and during 1 year of IFN-β, and compared with healthy controls (HCs). Treg were separated by immunomagnetic sorting and the effect of dopamine (DA) on Treg was assessed in coculture experiments with homologous effector T lymphocytes (Teff).

Combination treatment of Glatiramer Acetate and Minocycline affects phenotype expression of blood monocyte-derived dendritic cells in Multiple Sclerosis patients.

The effects of Glatiramer Acetate (GA) in combination with Minocycline (MIN), a second-generation tetracycline, have been investigated on the course of EAE in mice, resulting in a significant reduction in disease severity and burden with attenuation of the inflammation, axonal loss and demyelination. Here we investigate the effects of combination therapy with GA and MIN on the induction, maturation and phenotyping of blood monocyte-derived dendritic cells (DCs) in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. Hence the expressions of HLA-DR, CD11c, CD83 and CD1a were studied by flow cytometric analysis on immature (iDCs) and mature DCs (mDCs) from untreated and GA treated MS patients.