Dalla Libera, Dacia Di Mitri, Diletta Bergami, Alessandra Centonze, Diego Gasperini, Claudio Grasso, Maria Grazia Galgani, Simona Martinelli, Vittorio Comi, Giancarlo Avolio, Carlo Martino, Gianvito Borsellino, Giovanna Sallusto, Federica Battistini,Luca Furlan, Roberto 2011-06-24 FoxP3+ Treg cells are believed to play a role in the occurrence of autoimmunity and in the determination of clinical recurrences. Contradictory reports are, however, available describing frequency and function of Treg cells during autoimmune diseases. We examined, by both polychromatic flow cytometry, and real-time RT-PCR, several Treg markers in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease affecting the central nervous system. We found that Tregs, as defined by CD25, CD39, FoxP3, CTLA4, and GITR expression, were significantly decreased in stable MS patients as compared to healthy donors, but, surprisingly, restored to normal levels during an acute clinical attack. We conclude that Treg cells are not involved in causing clinical relapses, but rather react to inflammation in the attempt to restore homeostasis. application/pdf https://localhost:5000/ark:/12658/srd1318929 https://susi.usi.ch/global/documents/318929 https://susi.usi.ch/documents/318929/files/DallaLibera_PO_2011.pdf eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0021386 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/ark/12658/srd1318929 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC BY Plos one. - 2011, vol. 6, no. 6, p. e21386 info:eu-repo/classification/udc/61 T regulatory cells are markers of disease activity in multiple sclerosis patients http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501