Saturday, March 20, 2010

T-cells and CIDP?

I do not understand all of this, but my friend had AIDS and T-Cells were a huge issue for him. What does it mean for us? I will be sure to ask my neuro when next I see her.

Centre for Clinical Research, The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, The University of Queensland, Herston Road, Herston, Queensland 4029, Australia

Received 8 April 2009; accepted 6 July 2009. Available online 25 January 2010.

Abstract
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an acquired demyelinating neuropathy, characterized by infiltration of peripheral nerves with macrophages and T cells. There have been reports of antibodies to glycolipids in GBS. We have previously found T cell reactivity to glycolipids in patients with the demyelinating form of GBS. This study was performed to characterize the cytokines produced by these T cells. Peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with GBS, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy, healthy control patients and other neuropathies were incubated with the ganglioside GM1 and transferred to enzyme-linked immunospot plates. The average number per well of spot-forming cells (SFC) in the absence of antigen was counted. The average spontaneous SFC number was subtracted from the average SFC number in the presence of GM1, to produce a corrected SFC. There was significantly increased production of interferon-gamma but not interleukin-5 in response to stimulation with the ganglioside GM1. This could indicate that SFC have a role in pathogenesis of disease.