Event-Driven Immunoprofiling Predicts Return of Disease Activity in Alemtuzumab-Treated Multiple Sclerosis

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Background: Alemtuzumab is a highly effective drug for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS), characterized by specific patterns of depletion and repopulation. As an induction-like treatment concept, two mandatory infusion courses can inhibit long-term disease activity in the majority of patients, and additional courses can successfully manage subsequent re-emergence of disease activity. Currently, there are no biomarkers to identify patients with re-emergent disease activity requiring retreatment. Methods: In this study, we systematically characterized 16 MS patients commencing alemtuzumab. Clinical parameters, MRI and detailed immunoprofiling were conducted every 3 months for up to 84 months. Results: Alemtuzumab led to significant decrease in clinical disease activity in all evaluated patients. Nine out of 16 patients presented with no evidence of disease activity (NEDA)-3 up to 84 months ("complete-responder"), while 7 patients demonstrated clinical or/and subclinical MRI disease activity and received alemutzumab retreatment ("partial-responder"). In both response categories, all T- and B-cell subsets were markedly depleted after alemtuzumab therapy. In particular, absolute numbers of Th1 and Th17 cells were markedly decreased and remained stable below baseline levels-this effect was particularly pronounced in complete-responders. While mean cell numbers did not differ significantly between groups, analysis of event-driven immunoprofiling demonstrated that absolute numbers of Th1 and Th17 cells showed a reproducible increase starting 6 months before relapse activity. This change appears to predict emergent disease activity when compared with stable disease. Conclusion: Studies with larger patient populations are needed to confirm that frequent immunoprofiling may assist in evaluating clinical decision-making of alemtuzumab retreatment.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)56
JournalFrontiers in immunology
Volume11
Publication statusPublished - 2020
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMedCentral PMC7005935
Scopus 85079647330
ORCID /0000-0003-2465-4909/work/142236934
ORCID /0000-0001-8799-8202/work/171553365

Keywords

Keywords

  • Adult, Alemtuzumab/therapeutic use, B-Lymphocytes/immunology, Biomarkers/analysis, Female, Humans, Immunologic Factors/therapeutic use, Immunophenotyping/methods, Male, Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting/drug therapy, Th1 Cells/immunology, Th17 Cells/immunology