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Review article: Biomedical intelligence

Vol. 150 No. 3536 (2020)

When a T cell engages a B cell: novel insights in multiple sclerosis

  • Ivan Jelcic
  • Mireia Sospedra
  • Roland Martin
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4414/smw.2020.20330
Cite this as:
Swiss Med Wkly. 2020;150:w20330
Published
24.08.2020

Summary

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS) in which autoreactive T cells are considered to be the major effector cells in orchestrating and promoting CNS injuries. However, B cells emerged as additional important cellular player in multiple sclerosis immunopathogenesis since B cell depletion therapy has been found to be very effective in reducing new relapses. This short review summarises important new insights into the interaction between these two cell populations and outlines recent observations regarding how memory B cells activate brain-homing autoreactive T cells in multiple sclerosis.

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