Vitamin D sensitive EBNA-1 specific T cells in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis

Andreas Lossius1, Frode Vartdal, Trygve Holmøy

  • 1Institute of Immunology, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, 0027 Oslo, Norway. andreas.lossius@rr-research.no

The pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS) may involve intrathecal Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1) specific T cells susceptible to modulation by vitamin D. We established EBNA-1 reactive T cell lines from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood of three MS patients and cloned EBNA-1 specific CD4+ T cells from two of these. T cell clones from CSF and blood displayed Th1 or Th17 phenotypes and were restricted by HLA-DR molecules, in one patient encoded by the DRB1*0403 or DRB1*1501 haplotypes. 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D inhibited proliferation and suppressed secretion of IFN-γ and IL-17, irrespective of T cell origin and HLA restriction.