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Review
. 2021 Sep;37(9):784-797.
doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2021.04.012. Epub 2021 May 15.

Multiple sclerosis: doubling down on MHC

Roland Martin  1 , Mireia Sospedra  2 , Thomas Eiermann  3 , Tomas Olsson  4
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Multiple sclerosis: doubling down on MHC

Roland Martin et al. Trends Genet. 2021 Sep.
Free article

Abstract

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-encoded surface molecules present antigenic peptides to T lymphocytes and play a key role in adaptive immune responses. Besides their physiological role of defending the host against infectious pathogens, specific alleles serve as genetic risk factors for autoimmune diseases. For multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord, an association with the HLA-DR15 haplotype was described in the early 1970s. This short opinion piece discusses the difficulties of disentangling the details of this association and recent observations about the functional involvement of not only one, but also the second gene of the HLA-DR15 haplotype. This information is not only important for understanding the pathomechanism of MS, but also for antigen-specific therapies.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests T.O. has received honoraria for advisory boards/lectures and unrestricted MS research grants from Biogen, Novartis, Sanofi, Merck, and Roche. R.M. received unrestricted MS research grants from Biogen, Novartis, Roche, and Third Rock Ventures, personal compensation for lecture or advisory board functions from Biogen, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi Aventis, Teva, Cell-Protect, Neuway, and Third Rock Ventures. He is a co-founder and co-owner of Cellerys, a startup company of the University of Zurich. He is co-inventor and patent holder on patents related to antigen-specific tolerization, treatment/vaccination of PML (together with M.S.), and the use of daclizumab as a treatment for multiple sclerosis. T.E. has no interests to declare.

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