AUTHOR=Couloume Laura , Ferrant Juliette , Le Gallou Simon , Mandon Marion , Jean Rachel , Bescher Nadège , Zephir Helene , Edan Gilles , Thouvenot Eric , Ruet Aurelie , Debouverie Marc , Tarte Karin , Amé Patricia , Roussel Mikael , Michel Laure TITLE=Mass Cytometry Identifies Expansion of T-bet+ B Cells and CD206+ Monocytes in Early Multiple Sclerosis JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=12 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.653577 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2021.653577 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=

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.