Figure 4. Shared and unique immune changes induced by multiple sclerosis (MS) immunomodulatory treatments.

The effect of 4 immunomodulatory treatments (interferon-β [IFNB], glatiramer acetate [GA], natalizumab [NAT], fingolimod [FTY720]) was compared with combined controls (CON) and untreated (UNT) patients with MS, after establishing no significant difference between the latter 2 groups (except for panels E and F). A linear regression with covariates age and sex was applied. Significant differences (after multiple testing correction) in the peripheral immune system of patients with MS following treatment compared to controls and untreated patients with MS included altered proportions of (A) transitional B cells, (B) switched B cells, (C) myeloid dendritic cells (mDC), (D) interferon-γ-producing CD8⁺ T cells, (E) B cells, (F) T cell/B cell ratio, (G) naive B cells, (H) plasmablasts, (I) CD4⁺/CD8⁺ T cell ratio, (J) Th2 cells, (K) interleukin-2 (IL-2)–producing CD4⁺ T cells, (L) CD8⁺ terminally differentiated effector memory T cells (TEMRA), (M) IL-2-secreting CD8⁺ T cells, and (N) natural killer T cell (NKT) cells. Median with boxes indicating 25th and 75th percentile and whiskers indicating 1.5 × interquartile range.