Study of HLA-G molecules in the soluble form in the cerebrospinal fluid and serum from patients with multiple Sclerosis

• Grant number: 13/06168-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2013
• End date: July 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Immunology
• Principal Investigator: CARLOS OTÁVIO BRANDÃO
• Grantee: Amanda de Barros Piffer
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system in young adults. The disease may evolve from a clinical episode isolated (CIS) to form remittent/recurrent and after about ten years, to a form secondary progressive MS. The disease is caused by inflammation and neurodegeneration that normally occurs simultaneously in all phases of the disease. The inflammation predominates in remitting phase/recurrent, whereas the neurodegeneration predominate in the secondary progressive phase of the disease. In the phase remittent/recurrent autoreactive CD4 T lymphocytes play an prominent role in the mechanisms of demyelination. Simultaneously, mechanisms that regulate the immune response are activated. Cells of the innate immune response such as dendritic can express immunoregulatory molecules as molecules HLA-G that negatively regulated the response of lymphocytes autoreactive. In this proposal is our purpose to investigate how treatment Interferon beta alters the expression of HLA-G both present on the cell surface, as well as in the soluble form in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with MS.