Frontiers in Immunology (May 2021)

Mass Cytometry Identifies Expansion of T-bet+ B Cells and CD206+ Monocytes in Early Multiple Sclerosis

  • Laura Couloume,
  • Juliette Ferrant,
  • Simon Le Gallou,
  • Simon Le Gallou,
  • Marion Mandon,
  • Marion Mandon,
  • Rachel Jean,
  • Rachel Jean,
  • Nadège Bescher,
  • Nadège Bescher,
  • Helene Zephir,
  • Gilles Edan,
  • Eric Thouvenot,
  • Eric Thouvenot,
  • Aurelie Ruet,
  • Aurelie Ruet,
  • Aurelie Ruet,
  • Marc Debouverie,
  • Marc Debouverie,
  • Karin Tarte,
  • Karin Tarte,
  • Patricia Amé,
  • Patricia Amé,
  • Mikael Roussel,
  • Mikael Roussel,
  • Laure Michel,
  • Laure Michel,
  • Laure Michel

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.653577
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12

Abstract

Read online

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-driven demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Immune cell features are particularly promising as predictive biomarkers due to their central role in the pathogenesis but also as drug targets, even if nowadays, they have no impact in clinical practice. Recently, high-resolution approaches, such as mass cytometry (CyTOF), helped to better understand the diversity and functions of the immune system. In this study, we performed an exploratory analysis of blood immune response profiles in healthy controls and MS patients sampled at their first neurological relapse, using two large CyTOF panels including 62 markers exploring myeloid and lymphoid cells. An increased abundance of both a T-bet-expressing B cell subset and a CD206+ classical monocyte subset was detected in the blood of early MS patients. Moreover, T-bet-expressing B cells tended to be enriched in aggressive MS patients. This study provides new insights into understanding the pathophysiology of MS and the identification of immunological biomarkers. Further studies will be required to validate these results and to determine the exact role of the identified clusters in neuroinflammation.

Keywords