The autoantigens causing MS are not fully known. For example, the importance of the myelin oligodendrocyte (MOG) antigen has been under debate. To settle the score once and for all, Bronge et al. (Journal of Autoimmunity, 2019) set out to study MOG in MS patients using FluoroSpot. The sensitive simultaneous detection of IFN-γ, IL-22, and IL-17A revealed a higher frequency of T cells producing such cytokines in MS patients as compared to healthy controls. Cellular depletion and HLA blocking experiments showed an important role of CD4+ T cells as well as the involvement of phagocytes in the response.
Cytokine-secretion was facilitated using Mabtech’s FluoroSpot kit and – for the very first time in a published scientific paper – analyzed by the Mabtech IRIS FluoroSpot/ELISpot reader, using RAWspot technology for multiplexing at the single-cell level.
Mabtech products used