Abstract
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disorder directed against self antigens of the central nervous system. CD4
+CD25
+FoxP3
+ regulatory T cell (T
reg) mediated suppression is an essential mechanism of self-tolerance. We studied whether changes in the suppressive function of a mixture of CD25
high and CD25
intemediate expressing T
reg cells in myelin basic protein (MBP)-induced proliferation occurred in untreated MS patients. Suppression of MBP-induced proliferation was observed in 13 out of 29 (45%) MS patients; this was significantly (
p
<
0.05) less compared with 17 out of 19 (89%) healthy individuals. Relative T
reg counts was significantly increased in MS patients (mean
±
S.D.; 20
±
8%) compared with healthy individuals (15
±
5%). These findings suggest that impaired T
reg function may be involved in pathogenesis of MS.
