Eomes-expressing T-helper cells as potential target of therapy in chronic neuroinflammation

Reserch progresses in understanding the pathogenicity of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the last couple of decade has enabled us to develop new drug entities available in the clinic. However, we still have not succeeded in preventing conversion from relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) to secondary progressive MS (SP-MS) and curing this intractable form of MS. Furthermore, diagnosis is usually retrospective and subjective, relying on gradual worsening of neurological signs/symptoms. This is obviously due to the lack of understanding for the pathogenicity driving disease progression in MS and of reliable biomarkers reflecting the progressive or stationary disease status. Two relevant components are involved in brain pathology of SP-MS, neurodegeneration and inflammation. Neurodegeneration may occur spontaneously in a neuron-intrinsic manner under chronic inflammation, such as glutamate excitotoxicity, mitochondrial/oxidative injury with iron deposit in the brain, and loss of trophic support. Meanwhile, inflammation is usually associated with recurrent relapse and the cumulative infiltration of immune cells, including T cells, B cells, and myeloid cells of peripheral or CNS origin, could ignite the processes of neurodegeneration. Especially, the higher frequency of leptomeningeal follicle-like structures observed in SP-MS patients suggests that immune cells sheltered behind a blood-brain barrier is still active under smoldering CNS inflammation. Recent successes in Ocrelizumab for primary progressive in MS (PP-MS) and Siponimod for SP-MS reappraised the importance of immune cells for pathogenesis progressive MS. Accordingly, our recent comparative analysis between MS and its animal model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), raises a new possibility that ectopic expression of eomesodermin (Eomes) in helper T (Th) cells constitutes a previously unappreciated subset of Th cells with cytotoxic potential against neuronal cells. In this review article, I will summarize the mechanisms proposed on pathogenesis of SP-MS and propose a new pathogenic mechanism for neurodegeneration mediated by unique cytotoxic Th cells.