Figure 4.

The iNKT cells act as a bridge of adaptive and innate immunity. A clinical hallmark of MS is the heterogeneous presentation ranging from benign with little or no disability even years after disease onset, a commonly encountered a relapsing-remitting (RR) phase followed by a secondary progressive (SP) phase, progressively disabling course. The RR phase is driven by the adaptive immune response while SP phase is driven by the innate immune system. We propose invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells act as a bridge between adaptive and innate immunity, the phase characterized by lymphocyte anergy resulting in MS remission. Abbreviations: DC—dendritic cell, NK—natural killer, iNKT cells—invariant natural killer T cells, RRMS—relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis, SPMS—secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. Adapted and modified from [5].