Decreased exercise-induced natural killer cell redistribution in multiple sclerosis.

Background: Exercise may have beneficial effects in MS, remaining controversial its possible disease-modifying effects and which mechanisms might be involved. We evaluated whether exercise-induced lymphocyte redistribution differ in MS patients as compared to controls.

Methods: Exercise was assessed in 12 relapsing-remitting MS patients and 11 controls in a cycle ergometer, obtaining blood samples before exercise, at maximal exercise capacity (T1), and after resting (T2).

Delayed B cell repopulation after rituximab treatment in multiple sclerosis patients with expanded adaptive natural killer cells.

Background And Purpose: The aim was to evaluate whether adaptive NKG2C+ natural killer (NK) cells, characterized by enhanced antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity (ADCC), may influence time to B cell repopulation after rituximab treatment in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study of MS patients treated with rituximab monitoring peripheral B cells for repeated doses. B cell repopulation was defined as CD19+ cells above 2% of total lymphocytes, classifying cases according to the median time of B cell repopulation as early or late (≤9 months, >9 months, respectively).

Dynamics and Predictors of Cognitive Impairment along the Disease Course in Multiple Sclerosis.

(1) Background: The evolution and predictors of cognitive impairment (CI) in multiple sclerosis (MS) are poorly understood. We aimed to define the temporal dynamics of cognition throughout the disease course and identify clinical and neuroimaging measures that predict CI. (2) Methods: This paper features a longitudinal study with 212 patients who underwent several cognitive examinations at different time points.

Impact of cytomegalovirus infection on B cell differentiation and cytokine production in multiple sclerosis.

Background: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection has been recently associated with a low risk of multiple sclerosis (MS), yet the basis behind this observation remains uncertain. In this study, we aimed to determine in MS patients whether HCMV induces modifications in the peripheral B cell compartment.

Methods: HCMV serostatus was determined in 73 MS patients (55 relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS); 18 progressive MS (PMS)) and 30 healthy controls, assessing their B cell immunophenotype and cytokine production (GM-CSF, IL-6, IL-10, and TNFα) by flow cytometry.

Adaptive Features of Natural Killer Cells in Multiple Sclerosis.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has been recently related with a lower susceptibility to multiple sclerosis (MS). HCMV promotes an adaptive development of NK cells bearing the CD94/NKG2C receptor with a characteristic phenotypic and functional profile. NK cells are proposed to play an immunoregulatory role in MS, and expansion of the NKG2C(+) subset was recently associated with reduced disability progression.