Therapeutic activities of intravenous immunoglobulins in multiple sclerosis involve modulation of chemokine expression.

J Neuroimmunol. 2009 Feb 12

Pigard N, Elovaara I, Kuusisto H, Paalavuo R, Dastidar P, Zimmermann K, Schwarz HP, Reipert B.

BMT-Research GmbH, Vienna, Austria.

The objective of this study was to identify genes that are differentially expressed in peripheral T cells of patients with MS exacerbation receiving treatment with IVIG. Using microarray analysis, we identified 360 genes that were at least two-fold up- or down-regulated. The expression of four representative genes (PTGER4, CXCL5, IL11 and CASP2) was confirmed by quantitative PCR. Four of the differentially expressed genes encode chemokines (CXCL3, CXCL5, CCL13 and XCL2) that are involved in directing leukocyte migration. We suggest that the modulation of chemokine expression in peripheral T cells contributes to the beneficial activity of IVIG in patients with MS exacerbation.