Abstract:

Objective: We have previously shown altered blood B cells in the first attack blood samples of clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) pa-tients, who converted to multiple sclerosis (MS). Our aim was to investigate levels of B cell receptor (BCR)-associated genes expres-sion in converting CIS (CIS-c) and non-converting CIS patients (CIS-nc) with a 5-year follow-up. Methods: Seven CIS-c patients, 12 CIS-nc patients and 10 age-sex matched healthy donors were enrolled in this study. RNA was extracted from frozen peripheral blood cells of subjects that were obtained in the first attack using a RNA isolation kit. Expression levels of B-cell adaptor protein with ankyrin repeats 1 (BANK1), B lymphocyte kinase (BLK) and Fc receptor-like protein 2 (FCRL2) genes were evaluated samples by real-time polymerase chain re-action (RT-PCR). Results: CIS-nc patients showed elevated BANK1, BLK and FCRL2 gene expression levels as compared to CIS-c patients and healthy controls. Conclusions: Expression levels of the genes that inhibit BCR signal-ing are increased in CIS-nc, suggesting that inhibiting exaggerated B cell response by optimization of B cell proliferation may prevent the progression of clinically isolated syndrome to MS.

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