Gene Expression Profiling of Resting and Activated CD4+ T Cells in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system with varying disease course as well as response to treatment. Thus, biomarkers for personalized treatment are highly needed. We tested the hypothesis that in vitro activation of CD4+ T cells from MS patients could reveal pathways containing potential biomarkers and found a dysregulated dynamic gene response upon activation. By integrating our findings with data from genome-wide association studies and using a network-based approach, we constructed a highly connected MS gene module disclosing cell activation and chemotaxis as central components. Gene expression in isolated CD4+ T cells from MS patients and controls was measured after 24 hours of anti-CD3/-CD28 stimulation (0.03 µg/ml) or in unstimulated cells. Cells from each of the 14 patients and 14 control subjects, were both stimulated and nonstimulated i.e. samples are paired.