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[Enhanced adherence of endothelial cells to blood mononuclear cells in HAM/TSP]

P Cabre1, A al-Fahim, J Oger

  • 1Service de Neurologie, CHR Fort-de-France.

Revue Neurologique
|June 15, 1999
PubMed

We investigated the adhesion of blood mononuclear cells (MNC) isolated from patients with HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM/TSP). MNC from HAM/TSP patients were significantly more adherent to activated endothelial monolayers than MNC from non-HAM/TSP (controls and HTLV-1 carriers) subjects. Blocking studies demonstrated that the adhesion molecules VLA-4 (CD49d), ICAM-1 (CD54), and L-selectin (CD62L) all contributed to increased binding. However, anti-ICAM-1 antibody was the most efficient in inhibiting binding HAM/TSP patients MNC to activated endothelial cells. Expression on MNC of molecules involved in adhesion was also studied by flow cytometry in HAM/TSP patients, HTLV-1 carriers, and healthy control subjects after two days culture without any mitogen. In HAM/TSP patients, L-selectin expression on CD4+ and CD8+ subsets was lower than in controls; interestingly, HAM/TSP patients had lower percentage of CD4+ subset expressing L-selectin than HTLV-1 carriers. The percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ cells expressing VLA-4 was found to be similar to controls in both HAM/TSP patients and HTLV-1 carriers. Following two days in culture without mitogen, the percentage of T cells expressing ICAM-1 increased in HAM/TSP and carriers, but not in controls. This study provides information regarding trans-endothelial migration of MNC across the blood brain barrier in HAM/TSP and suggests ICAM-1 and its counterpart molecule LAF-1 are involved in massive infiltration of lymphocytes observed in the spinal cord.

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