科研之友
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摘要
Studies in children presenting with a first CNS demyelinating event are particularly valuable as a focus for investigation of the early immunologic mechanism occurring during the induction and progression of CNS autoimmune diseases.(1) According to our current view, the adaptive immune response has a central role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the CNS.(2) Peripheral priming of antigen-specific T cells and B cells targeting antigens in the CNS will most likely precede the first clinical event. Evolution of additional antigen-specific immune responses may occur, when the disease progresses from the monophasic to the chronic stage. The extent of inflammatory disease activity, determined by relapse rates or new MRI lesions, decreases with age and disease duration, suggesting that the most pronounced immune responses occur in children.(3,4) Moreover, the immune system in children has been less exposed to environmental factors and chronic diseases than in adults. It is therefore reasonable to assume that immunologic processes associated with the first demyelinating event possibly leading to multiple sclerosis (MS) should be easier to identify in children than in adults. Although studies in children bear many advantages, they are also challenging given the lower prevalence of MS during childhood. Antigen-specific T cells, B cells, or their released antibodies can be studied in blood or CSF, but the small amount of biomaterial available from children limits broad testing for antigen-specific immune responses to antibodies.
- 出版日期2014-12-9
