Leptin's Role in Multiple Sclerosis
Mar 30, 2005 - 6:45:00 AM
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The role of leptin in the pathogenesis of human MS is not fully understood. The authors studied 126 naïve-to-therapy, relapsingremitting MS patients and detected an increase in leptin in both their cerebrospinal fluid and serum.
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By Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
[RxPG] According to Giuseppe Matarese et al., increased levels of the cytokine-like hormone leptin in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) inversely correlates with the frequency of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (TRegs).
Previous research has shown that leptin plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases such as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, an animal model for MS.
The role of leptin in the pathogenesis of human MS is not fully understood. The authors studied 126 naïve-to-therapy, relapsingremitting MS patients and detected an increase in leptin in both their cerebrospinal fluid and serum.
This increase correlated with elevated IFN-γ levels. Matarese et al. generated T cell lines from three of the individuals and, after activating the cells with human myelin basic protein, found an increase in leptin production and up-regulation of the leptin receptor.
Antileptin or an antileptin receptor blocking antibody inhibited the proliferative response of these T cells by up to 60%. Immunophenotypic analysis of peripheral blood from the MS patients showed a significant reduction in percentage and absolute number of TRegs, whereas no difference was observed in the frequency of other cell subpopulations. Treatment of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mice with leptin antagonists increased the percentage of TRegs and slowed disease progression.
Publication:
"Leptin increase in multiple sclerosis associates with reduced number of CD4M+CD25+ regulatory T cells" by Giuseppe Matarese, Pietro Biagio Carrieri, Antonio La Cava, Francesco Perna, Veronica Sanna, Veronica De Rosa, Daniela Aufiero, Silvia Fontana, and Serafino Zappacosta
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Additional information about the news article
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
PNAS is one of the world's most-cited multidisciplinary scientific serials. Since its establishment in 1914, it continues to publish cutting-edge research reports, commentaries, reviews, perspectives, colloquium papers, and actions of the Academy. Coverage in PNAS spans the biological, physical, and social sciences. PNAS is published weekly in print, and daily online in PNAS Early Edition. The PNAS impact factor is 10.3 for 2003. PNAS is available by subscription.
PNAS is abstracted and/or indexed in: Index Medicus, PubMed Central, Current Contents, Medline, SPIN, JSTOR, ISI Web of Science, and BIOSIS.
Please note that the articles in PNAS report original research by independent authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Academy of Sciences or the National Research Council.
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