AUTHOR=Amoriello Roberta , Rizzo Roberta , Mariottini Alice , Bortolotti Daria , Gentili Valentina , Bonechi Elena , Aldinucci Alessandra , Carnasciali Alberto , Peruzzi Benedetta , Repice Anna Maria , Massacesi Luca , Fainardi Enrico , Ballerini Clara TITLE=Investigating Serum sHLA-G Cooperation With MRI Activity and Disease-Modifying Treatment Outcome in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology VOLUME=13 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2022.872396 DOI=10.3389/fneur.2022.872396 ISSN=1664-2295 ABSTRACT=

Relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) is a demyelinating disease in which pathogenesis T cells have a major role. Despite the unknown etiology, several risk factors have been described, including a strong association with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes. Recent findings showed that HLA class I-G (HLA-G) may be tolerogenic in MS, but further insights are required. To deepen the HLA-G role in MS inflammation, we measured soluble HLA-G (sHLA-G) and cytokines serum level in 27 patients with RRMS at baseline and after 12 and 24 months of natalizumab (NTZ) treatment. Patients were divided into high (sHLA-G>20 ng/ml), medium (sHLA-G between 10 and 20 ng/ml), and low (sHLA-G <10 ng/ml) producers. Results showed a heterogeneous distribution of genotypes among producers, with no significant differences between groups. A significant decrease of sHLA-G was found after 24 months of NTZ in low producers carrying the +3142 C/G genotype. Finally, 83.3% of high and 100% of medium producers were MRI-activity free after 24 months of treatment, compared to 63.5% of low producers. Of note, we did not find any correlation of sHLA-G with peripheral cell counts or cytokines level. These findings suggest that serum sHLA-G level may partly depend on genotype rather than peripheral inflammation, and that may have impacted on MRI activity of patients over treatment.