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Clinical Trial
. 2019 Dec;49(12):2204-2221.
doi: 10.1002/eji.201948223. Epub 2019 Aug 16.

Mitochondrial functionality and metabolism in T cells from progressive multiple sclerosis patients

Sara De Biasi  1 , Anna Maria Simone  2 , Elena Bianchini  3 , Domenico Lo Tartaro  4 , Simone Pecorini  4 , Milena Nasi  3 , Simone Patergnani  5   6 , Gianluca Carnevale  3 , Lara Gibellini  4 , Diana Ferraro  2 , Francesca Vitetta  2 , Paolo Pinton  5   6 , Patrizia Sola  2 , Andrea Cossarizza  4   7 , Marcello Pinti  1
Affiliations
Free article
Clinical Trial

Mitochondrial functionality and metabolism in T cells from progressive multiple sclerosis patients

Sara De Biasi et al. Eur J Immunol. 2019 Dec.
Free article

Abstract

Patients with primary progressive (PP) and secondary progressive (SP) forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) exhibit a sustained increase in the number of Th1, T cytotoxic type-1 and Th17 cells in peripheral blood, suggesting that the progressive phase is characterized by a permanent peripheral immune activation. As T cell functionality and activation are strictly connected to their metabolic profile, we investigated the mitochondrial functionality and metabolic changes of T cell subpopulations in a cohort of progressive MS patients. T cells from progressive patients were characterized by low proliferation and increase of terminally differentiated/exhausted cells. T cells from PP patients showed lower Oxygen Consumption Rate and Extracellular Acidification Rate, lower mitochondrial mass, membrane potential and respiration than those of SP patients, a downregulation of transcription factors supporting respiration and higher tendency to shift towards glycolysis upon stimulation. Furthermore, PP effector memory T cells were characterized by higher Glucose transporter -1 levels and a higher expression of glycolytic-supporting genes if compared to SP patients. Overall, our data suggest that profound differences exist in the phenotypic and metabolic features of T cells from PP and SP patients, even though the two clinical phenotypes are considered part of the same disease spectrum.

Keywords: T cells; flow cytometry; metabolism; mitochondria; multiple sclerosis.

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