POTENTIAL IMMUNOMODULATORY EFFECT OF HUMAN CHORIONIC GONADOTROPHIN IN PATIENTS WITH MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS.

JURIOL, LORENA; VALEFF, NATALIN; VENTIMIGLIA, MARÍA SILVIA; MARIA FLORENCIA QUIROGA; CORREALE, JORGE; JENSEN, FEDERICO

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Reunión Conjunta de Sociedades de Biociencias. LXII Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica (SAIC 2017); 2017

SAIC

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an invalidating, neurodegenerative disease,2-3 times more common in women than men. It is well knownthat pregnancy has a strong influence on MS disease activity and, areduced relapse frequency (70%) is seen during pregnancy. Humanchorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is synthetized by the placenta duringpregnancy and the presence of its receptor has been describedin immune cells, such as B and T cells. The aim of our study wasto investigate the capability of hCG to reduce activation and laterproduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines from immune cells in MSpatients. We recruited women suffering MS during their reproductivelife. PBMC were isolated from whole blood samples and thencultivated in vitro with/without (control, C) hCG: urinary hCG (u, 100IU/ml) or recombinant hCG (r, 5 ug/ml) for 24 h. PMA, Ionomycin andBrefeldin A were added, in some wells, for the last 5h of culture. Flowcytometry was used for the phenotypical characterization of differentimmune cell subsets: CD19, CD80, CD86 (B cells), CD4 and Foxp3cells and to evaluate intracellular cytokines levels: TNF-α and IL-10.We observed that treatment with hCGu significantly reduced therelative numbers of CD19+CD86+ B cells as compared to controlgroup. No changes were observed concerning CD80+ expressingB-lymphocytes. Interestingly, addition of either hCGu or hCGr induceda significant reduction in the total numbers of CD19+TNF-α+ Bcells as well as CD4+TNF-α+ cells as compared to controls. Besidesa slight increase, no significant differences were observed on IL-10production by CD4+ or CD19+ B cells upon either hCG stimulation(data were analyzed by One-way ANOVA).Overall, we demonstrated here that treatment with hCG in vitro,lowers the expression of the costimulatory molecule CD86 in Bcells and also decreases the production of TNF-α, in both CD4+ andCD19+ B cells. These results highlight the potential use of this hormonefor the treatment of MS.