Cellefordelingsmønstre i spinalvæsken hos MS pasienter

Abstract

MS is a chronic, inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the CNS. It is characterized by lesions in especially the white areas of the brain. The immunological mechanisms are not completely recognized. Intrathecal IgG-production is associated with MS. Oligoclonal IgG-bands are pathological findings, but it is not specific. T-cells are also very involved in the patogenesis of MS, but their role is not completely understood. Macrophages are the dominating cell type in active MS-lesions. We used CSF samples from 51 patients under investigation for MS. The samples were already processed with flow-cytometria for cell counts. We studied the patients’ journals and classified them into MS and controls. The patients were classified according to type of MS and EDSS. The most interesting findings were in the monocyte population. Percentage of highly activated monocytes were lower in MS-patients than in controls, and the low activated monocytes were higher in MS-patients than in controls, though these findings were not statistically significant. We found nearly significant findings for the index highly activated monocytes/low activated monocytes. Future studies should aim to see if this index, combined with the numbers of each variable in the index might be used as a diagnostic marker.