New study sheds light on how immune cells may work together to drive MS
April 1, 2022
Several therapies approved to treat MS (such as Ocrevus and Kesimpta) work by targeting a molecule on the surface of B cells called CD20. Researchers at University Medicine Göttingen, Germany, recently showed that another type of immune cell – T cells – may actually be grabbing CD20 from B cells and causing inflammation and damage. When this team transferred these T cells into mice with MS-like disease, the disease worsened; when they eliminated the cells, disease improved.
Further research will look at the interaction between T cells and B cells more closely, and whether current therapies are working by causing depletion of B cells, or of these CD20-carrying T cells. Understanding these factors can lead to more effective and better-tolerated therapies for MS. This study was partly funded by the National MS Society.
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Read the abstract in Science Translational Medicine