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Author Spotlight: Novel Assay for Studying B-Cell Responses in Multiple Sclerosis Research
Published on: December 1, 2023
Genetic determinants of the humoral immune response in MS
Christiane Gasperi1, Till F M Andlauer1, Ana Keating1
1From the Department of Neurology (C.G., T.F.M.A., A. Keating, B.K., A. Klein, V.P., A. Berthele, B.H.), Klinikum rechts der Isar, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich; Institute of Human Genetics (P.L.), Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg; Department of Neurology (R.G.), St. Josef Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum; Department of Neurology, Focus Program Translational Neurosciences (FTN) and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), Rhine-Main Neuroscience Network (rmn2) (F.Z.), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz; Department of Neurology and Translational Center for Regenerative Medicine (F.T.B.), University of Leipzig; Clinical Neuroimmunology and Neurochemistry (M.S.), Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover; Department of Neurology (H.T.), University of Ulm; Clinic of Neurology Dietenbronn (H.T.), Schwendi; Department of Neurology (B.W.), University Hospital Heidelberg; Department of Neurology (H.W.), University of Münster; Department of Neurology (A. Bayas), University Hospital Augsburg; Institute of Clinical Neuroimmunology (T.K.), University Hospital and Biomedical Center, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich; Department of Neurology (U.K.Z.), Neuroimmunological Section, University of Rostock; Department of Neurology (R.A.L.), University Hospital Erlangen; Department of Neurology (R.A.L.), University of Regensburg; Department of Neurology & Stroke and Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research (U.Z.), Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen; Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry (M.K.), Munich; Department of Neurology (C.W.), Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf; Department of Neurology (C.W.), University Hospital Cologne; Institute of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis (M.A.F), University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg; NeuroCure Clinical Research Center (F.P.), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Berlin Institute of Health and Experimental and Clinical Research Center (F.P.), Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin; and Center of Neuroimmunology (B.T.), Philipps-University Marburg; and Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy) (B.H.), Germany.
Objective:
In this observational study, we investigated the impact of genetic factors at the immunoglobulin heavy chain constant locus on chromosome 14 and the major histocompatibility complex region on intrathecal immunoglobulin G, A, and M levels as well as on B cells and plasmablasts in the CSF and blood of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Methods:
Using regression analyses, we tested genetic variants on chromosome 14 and imputed human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles for associations with intrathecal immunoglobulins in 1,279 patients with MS or clinically isolated syndrome and with blood and CSF B cells and plasmablasts in 301 and 348 patients, respectively.
Results:
The minor alleles of variants on chromosome 14 were associated with higher intrathecal immunoglobulin G levels (β = 0.58 [0.47 to 0.68], lowest adjusted p = 2.32 × 10-23), and lower intrathecal immunoglobulin M (β = -0.56 [-0.67 to -0.46], p = 2.06 × 10-24) and A (β = -0.42 [-0.54 to -0.31], p = 7.48 × 10-11) levels. Alleles from the HLA-B*07:02-DRB1*15:01-DQA1*01:02-DQB1*06:02 haplotype were associated with higher (lowest p = 2.14 × 10-7) and HLA-B*44:02 with lower (β = -0.35 [-0.54 to -0.17], p = 1.38 × 10-2) immunoglobulin G levels. Of interest, different HLA alleles were associated with lower intrathecal immunoglobulin M (HLA-C*02:02, β = -0.45 [-0.61 to -0.28], p = 1.01 × 10-5) and higher immunoglobulin A levels (HLA-DQA1*01:03-DQB1*06:03-DRB1*13:01 haplotype, β = 0.40 [0.21 to 0.60], p = 4.46 × 10-3). The impact of HLA alleles on intrathecal immunoglobulin G and M levels could mostly be explained by associations with CSF B cells and plasmablasts.
Conclusion:
Although some HLA alleles seem to primarily drive the extent of humoral immune responses in the CNS by increasing CSF B cells and plasmablasts, genetic variants at the immunoglobulin heavy chain constant locus might regulate intrathecal immunoglobulins levels via different mechanisms.
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