MYELIN ANTIGEN REACTIVE T-CELLS IN CEREBROVASCULAR DISEASES

T cell reactivities to the putative autoantigens myelin basic protein (MBP), MBP peptides with amino acid residues 110-128 and 148-165, and myelin proteolipid protein (PLP) were examined in patients with acute ischaemic cerebrovascular disease (CVD) and, for comparison, in patien ts with inflammatory neurological diseases and other neurological dise ases. A quantitative measure of these T cell reactivities was obtained by assessing numbers of T cells among blood and cerebrospinal fluid ( CSF) mononuclear cells that secreted IFN-gamma in response to antigen in vitro. Higher numbers of T cells reactive with each of these four a ntigens were detected in peripheral blood from patients with CVD compa red with patients of the two control groups. Among blood cells from th e CVD patients, their average number was 2.3-4.2/10(5) mononuclear cel ls. MBP reactive T cells were several-fold enriched in the CSF of CVD patients. The findings strongly suggest that brain damage in context w ith acute CVD leads to an in vivo expansion of myelin reactive T cells .