Cellular immune responses in multiple sclerosis patients treated with interferon-beta

We investigated cellular immune responses at baseline in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) treated with interferon (IFN)-β and classified into responders and non-responders according to clinical response criteria. Levels for IFN-γ, interleukin (IL)-17A, IL-17F, IL-10 and IL-4 were determined in activated PBMC of 10 responders, 10 non-responders and 10 healthy controls by cytometric bead arrays. Cytokine levels in cell culture supernatants were similar between responders and non-responders, and comparable to those obtained in healthy controls. These findings do not support differential cellular immune responses in PBMC at baseline between IFN-β responders and non-responders.