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. 2011 Jul 26;83(3):353–354. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2011-300213

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© 2012, Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

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(A) Proportion of CD8 T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in healthy control (HC) subjects and the total group of multiple sclerosis patients (All MS) plotted against age in years. The proportion of CD8 T cells declines markedly with increasing age in the patients with MS (continuous line) (r=−0.46, p=0.0001, Pearson) but not in the healthy subjects (broken line) (r_s=−0.11, p=0.26, Spearman). The slopes of the regression lines are significantly different (p<0.05, multiple linear regression). (B) Proportion of CD8 T cells in PBMCs in HC subjects and patients with primary progressive MS (PPMS) plotted against age in years. The proportion of CD8 T cells declines markedly with age in patients with PPMS (continuous line) (r=−0.82, p<0.0001) but not in healthy subjects (broken line). The slopes of the regression lines are significantly different (p<0.01). (C) Frequencies of T cells producing interferon-γ (IFN-γ) in response to autologous Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infected lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) plotted against the proportion of CD8 T cells in the blood of EBV-seropositive healthy subjects (HC) (broken line) and EBV-seropositive patients with MS (continuous line). There is a significant positive correlation between the LCL-specific T cell frequency and the proportion of CD8 T cells in the healthy subjects (r=0.48, p<0.01) but not in the patients with MS (r=0.04, p=0.84). For a given proportion of CD8 T cells in the blood, the LCL-specific T cell frequency in MS patients is generally lower than in healthy subjects. This indicates that the decreased LCL-specific T cell frequency in MS is due to the CD8 T cell deficiency and a decreased proportion of LCL-specific T cells within the general CD8 T cell population. The slopes of the regression lines are significantly different (p<0.05). (D) Frequencies of T cells producing IFN-γ in response to autologous EBV-infected LCLs plotted against the age (in years) of 34 EBV-seropositive healthy subjects (HC) (broken line) and 34 EBV-seropositive patients with MS (continuous line). For HC, r=0.25 and p=0.15; for MS patients, r=0.17 and p=0.33. The y intercepts (elevations) of the regression lines are significantly different (p<0.01).