The Role of B Cells and Antibodies in Multiple Sclerosis, Neuromyelitis Optica, and Related Disorders.

ABSTRACT: Our pathophysiological concept of the most common central nervous system demyelinating disease, multiple sclerosis, strikingly evolved by recent discoveries suggesting that B lymphocytes substantially contribute in its initiation and chronic propagation. In this regard, activated B cells are nowadays considered to act as important antigen-presenting cells for the activation of T cells and as essential source of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Hereby, they create a milieu in which other immune cells differentiate and join an orchestrated inflammatory infiltration of the CNS. Without a doubt, this scientific leap was critically pioneered by the empirical use of anti-CD20 antibodies in recent clinical MS trials, which revealed that the therapeutic removal of immature and mature B cells basically

SUBMITTER: Hausser-Kinzel S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6375838 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature