Fig. 1.

An overview of the roles of immune cells in multiple sclerosis pathogenesis. T cells are stimulated to proliferate when they encounter antigen-presenting cells in the lymph node. Circulating T cells and B cells can traffic from the circulation across the blood–brain barrier. In the CNS, T cells encounter CNS antigens presented by dendritic cells. Macrophages and activated T cells can attack components of the CNS directly or release cytokines to activate other cell types, including B cells, which mature into antibody-producing plasma cells. T T cell, B B cell, CNS central nervous system, BBB blood–brain barrier, APC antigen-presenting cell, DC dendritic cell [64, 81, 89, 94]