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Expression of Akt1 and p-Akt1 in peripheral T cell subsets of multiple sclerosis patients

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Abstract

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder induced by the infiltration of autoreactive immune cells into the central nervous system. Akt/PKB signaling pathway is crucially involved in T cell development and survival. We aimed to determine whether Akt1 expression levels of regulatory T (Treg) cells are altered in MS and are associated with disease activity. Relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RR-MS, n = 17) patients and healthy individuals (n = 20) were enrolled. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated and anti-CD3, -CD4, -CD8, -CD25, -CD127 monoclonal antibodies were used to identify the T cell subsets. After stimulation with phorbol myristate acetate/ionomycin, the Akt1 and phosphorylated-Akt1 (p-Akt1) levels of T cell subsets were detected with intracellular staining using flow cytometry. Total Akt1 and p-Akt1 expression levels were found to be suppressed in CD4+ T cell and Treg populations of RR-MS patients. Progression indices were positively correlated with Akt1 expression levels of Tregs indicating that the Akt pathway might partake in the progression of multiple sclerosis. Flow cytometry may effectively be used for the evaluation of the Akt pathway activity. Our findings suggest that the magnitude of suppression of the Akt pathway might serve as a biomarker for the prognosis of multiple sclerosis.

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Abbreviations

MS:

Multiple sclerosis

p-Akt1:

Phosphorylated Akt1

PBMC:

Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell

RR-MS:

Relapsing–Remitting MS

Th:

T Helper Cells

Treg:

Regulatory T Cells

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the patients for participating and thank Abdullah Yilmaz, technician of Istanbul University-Aziz Sancar Institute of Experimental Medicine-Department of Immunology-Istanbul/ Turkey, for his help in this study.

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Fund of Istanbul University. Project No. TYL-2018–28628.

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Author notes

  1. Suzan Cinar and Fatma Betul Oktelik contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunology, Istanbul University, Aziz Sancar Institute of Experimental Medicine, Vakif Gureba C. Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey

    Fatma Betul Oktelik, Gunnur Deniz & Suzan Cinar

  2. Department of Neuro Science, Istanbul University, Aziz Sancar Institute of Experimental Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey

    Vuslat Yilmaz, Ece Akbayir & Erdem Tuzun

  3. Department of Neurology, Istanbul Haydarpasa Numune Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

    Recai Turkoglu

Authors
  1. Fatma Betul Oktelik
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  2. Vuslat Yilmaz
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  3. Recai Turkoglu
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  4. Ece Akbayir
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  5. Erdem Tuzun
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  6. Gunnur Deniz
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  7. Suzan Cinar
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Correspondence to Suzan Cinar.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest to disclose.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards and with subsequent amendments of the Helsinki Declaration or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the institutional Ethics Committee of the Istanbul University (2018/459).

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Oktelik, F.B., Yilmaz, V., Turkoglu, R. et al. Expression of Akt1 and p-Akt1 in peripheral T cell subsets of multiple sclerosis patients. Acta Neurol Belg 121, 1777–1782 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760-020-01518-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760-020-01518-9

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