A monoclonal antibody against human T suppressor lymphocytes binds specifically to the surface of cultured oligodendrocytes

Abstract

The cardinal pathological feature of multiple sclerosis (MS) is the presence within brain and spinal cord of regions called plaques, from which myelin has been lost¹. It has been proposed that autoimmunity may be involved in MS and that oligodendrocytes, the cells responsible for the formation and maintenance of central nervous system myelin, may provide a target for immune attack in this disease. The fact that oligodendrocytes are reduced in number in MS plaques² is consistent with this hypothesis. MS is characterized by attacks and remissions. During attacks, a subset of T lymphocytes, known as T suppressor cells, is depleted from the circulation^3–5. The reason for this depletion is unknown, but the suppressor cells could be destroyed, sequestered, for example in brain, or modulated so that they are no longer detectable by the assays which enumerate them or which measure their functional capacities. Were suppressor cells and oligodendrocytes to share a determinant relevant to MS, both cell types could be targets for immune-mediated killing by the same autoimmune response. Recently, monoclonal antibodies which recognize human monocytes, T lymphocytes and T-cell subsets have become available. We have tested cultured ovine oligodendrocytes with a battery of monoclonal antibodies directed against human lymphocyte and monocyte antigens, seeking evidence for shared determinants, and present here data suggesting that shared determinants exist.