Circulating T and B cell proportions in patients treated by fingolimod.

<p>PBMCs of MS patients before (t0, n = 16) or after three months of treatment by fingolimod (t3, n = 16) and healthy controls (HC, n = 10) were analysed <i>ex vivo</i> by flow cytometry. The percentage of (A) CD19⁺ B cells, (B) CD8⁺ and (C) CD4⁺ T cells within lymphoid cells is shown. The proportion of B cells and CD4⁺ T cells decreased after fingolimod while the proportion of CD8⁺ T cells was not significantly modified. The horizontal lines represent the median value in all subgroups. *, ** and *** indicate p-values of ≤0.05, ≤0.01 and ≤0.001 respectively.</p

Immune cell subpopulations in MS patients before (t0) or after three months of fingolimod treatment (t3) and healthy controls analysed by <i>ex vivo</i> flow cytometry.

<p>The median and range are shown. Lymphoid cells were gated according to their FSC/SSC profile.</p><p>Immune cell subpopulations in MS patients before (t0) or after three months of fingolimod treatment (t3) and healthy controls analysed by <i>ex vivo</i> flow cytometry.</p

<i>Ex vivo</i> mRNA expression in total PBMCs from fingolimod-treated patients.

<p>Scatter dot plots show relative mRNA expression levels in PBMCs from MS patients before (t0) or after 3 months (t3) of treatment by fingolimod, and healthy controls (HC) analysed by q-PCR. For each target, individual mRNA levels were expressed as relative values to the mean level of the control group. The mRNA expression levels of CD39 (p = 0.0033), as well as of AHR (p = 0.007) and CYP1B1, an AHR-induced gene (p<0.0001) were increased after fingolimod treatment. On the contrary, fingolimod reduced the mRNA levels of IL-17, IL-22 and FOXP3. Horizontal lines represent the median value in all subgroups. *, ** and *** indicate p-values of ≤0.05, ≤0.01 and ≤0.001 respectively.</p

Regulatory T cells in PBMCs of fingolimod-treated patients.

<p>Regulatory T cells of MS patients before (t0, n = 16) or after three months of treatment by fingolimod (t3, n = 16) and healthy controls (HC, n = 10) were analysed <i>ex vivo</i> by MethylS-qPCR (A) to quantify nTregs with demethylated <i>FOXP3i1</i>. The proportion of circulating CD4⁺CD25^hiFOXP3⁺ Tregs was also measured by flow cytometry and expressed as a percentage of lymphoid cells (B). The proportion of CD25^hiFOXP3⁺ cells was also expressed as a percentage of CD4⁺ T cells (C). nTreg proportion among total PBMCs was decreased by the treatment, as well as the proportion of Tregs within lymphoid cells. CD25^hiFOXP3⁺ Tregs were however enriched within the CD4⁺ cell population in 12 out of 16 patients. The horizontal lines represent the median value in all subgroups. ** indicates a p-value of ≤0.01.</p