Interleukin-7 expression and its effect on natural killer cells in patients with multiple sclerosis》.pdf

Journal of Neuroimmunology 276 (2014) 180 –186 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Neuroimmunology j ournal homepage: www.el sevier.c om/l o cate/ jneuroim Interleukin-7 expression and its effect on natural killer cells in patients with multiple sclerosis Ning Su a,b, Samuel X. Shi a,1, Xiaodong Zhu b, Aimee Borazanci a, Fu-Dong Shi a,b,⁎, Yan Gan a,⁎ a Department of Neurology, Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Josephs Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ 85013, United States b Department of Neurology and Tianjin Neurological Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Decreased NK cell numbers and impairment of NK cell function are reported in patients with multiple sclerosis Received 8 April 2014 (MS). Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is a member of the common gamma-chain (γc) cytokine superfamily that has well Received in revised form 16 July 2014 documented roles in lymphocyte development and homeostasis. The interleukin-7 receptor α chain (IL-7Rα) Accepted 14 August 2014 gene was identified as a top non-major histocompatibility complex-linked risk locus for MS. The objective of this study was to test biological function of IL-7/IL-7Rα on NK cells in MS patients. We observed markedly Keywords: IL-7 lower IL-7 levels in MS sera, and relatively higher IL-7Rα expression in NK cells of MS. Upon IL-7 stimulation, IL-7Rα