Regulatory CD56(bright) natural killer cells mediate immunomodulatory effects of IL-2Ralpha-targeted therapy (daclizumab) in multiple sclerosis.

ABSTRACT: Administration of daclizumab, a humanized mAb directed against the IL-2Ralpha chain, strongly reduces brain inflammation in multiple sclerosis patients. Here we show that daclizumab treatment leads to only a mild functional blockade of CD4(+) T cells, the major candidate in multiple sclerosis pathogenesis. Instead, daclizumab therapy was associated with a gradual decline in circulating CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells and significant expansion of CD56(bright) natural killer (NK) cells in vivo, and this effect correlated highly with the treatment response. In vitro studies showed that NK cells inhibited T cell survival in activated peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures by a contact-dependent mechanism. Positive correlations between expansion of CD56(bright) NK cells and contraction of CD4(+)

SUBMITTER: Bielekova B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1458677 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature