Cerebrospinal fluid cells in multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases: an immunocytochemical study

Determinations of mononuclear cell subsets in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), using monoclonal antibodies against surface antigens which identified pan T-cells, helper/inducer T-cells, cytotoxic/suppressor T-cells and Ia-positive cells, were performed in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), other neuroimmunological diseases (NID), infectious diseases (INF) of the central nervous system and with other neurological diseases. Whereas there was an elevated helper T/suppressor T ratio in CSF of patients with NID (Guillain-Barré syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, cerebral vasculitis), no other significant differences could be detected between the different groups of patients. Our results suggest that analysis of these mononuclear cell subsets in CSF is not helpful in discriminating between MS and other neurological diseases and that in MS patients changes in disease activity are not clearly indicated by fluctuations in the different CSF cell subsets. Further studies will be needed to confirm our findings in NID patients and to understand the diagnostic and theoretical implications.