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Increased expression of PD-1 in CD8 + CD3 + T cells correlates with EBV viral load in MS patients

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Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the common autoimmune diseases. The exact etiology of MS is still unclear, but recent studies have shown the possibility of infectious agent involvement such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in MS pathophysiology. In this study, CD3 + CD8 + T cells of 25 new case MS patients were compared with healthy donors for expression of exhaustion marker, PD-1, using flow cytometry. Also, the expression of the EBV gene, BRCF-1, in PBMCs was analyzed using real-time PCR. Results revealed a lower frequency of CD3 + CD8 + T cells in MS patients. Also, increased expression of PD-1 was observed on CTLs which correlated with higher viral loads. Therefore, a lower frequency of CD8 + T cells but a higher exhaustion marker in MS patients reveals a new mechanism of EBV pathogenesis in MS development. The results suggest that inefficient immune control of EBV in patients with MS may cause exacerbation of the disease. Future studies on the mechanism of T cell exhaustion and chronic infections may aid in a better understanding of the disease and the design of effective therapies.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

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Funding

The authors received financial support for the research from Kerman University of Medical Sciences under the grant number 96000710.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Immunology, School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

    Atefeh Najmadini, Mohammad Mahdi Mohammadi, Ladan Langroudi & Merat Mahmoodi

  2. Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Neurology Research Center, Shafa Hospital, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

    Hosseinali Ebrahimi Meimand

  3. Modeling in Health Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

    Moghadameh Mirzaei

Authors
  1. Atefeh Najmadini
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  2. Mohammad Mahdi Mohammadi
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  3. Ladan Langroudi
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  4. Hosseinali Ebrahimi Meimand
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  5. Merat Mahmoodi
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  6. Moghadameh Mirzaei
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Atefeh Najmadin, MMM, and Ladan Langroudi. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Atefeh Najmadini and Ladan Langroudi, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohammad Mahdi Mohammadi.

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All the procedures in this study have been reviewed and approved by the ethical committee of Kerman University of Medical sciences (reference number IR.KMU.REC.1396.2230).

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Informed consent was obtained prior to performing the procedure from all participants.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Najmadini, A., Mohammadi, M.M., Langroudi, L. et al. Increased expression of PD-1 in CD8 + CD3 + T cells correlates with EBV viral load in MS patients. J. Neurovirol. 28, 497–504 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13365-022-01083-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13365-022-01083-2

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