Assessment of commonly used methods to determine myelin-reactivity of T cells in multiple sclerosis

Many studies have analyzed myelin-reactivity of T cells in multiple sclerosis (MS); however, with conflicting results. In this study we compare methods to determine myelin reactivity of T cells and aim to delineate the cause of inconsistency in the literature. Challenging T cells with myelin antigens we found a significant increase in antigen-reactivity of T cells from patients with MS using an ELISpot-assay, in contrast to a CFSE-dilution assay. Comparing the two assays showed that the myelin-reactive T cells detected in the ELISpot-assay originated primarily from effector memory T cells in contrast to the myelin-reactive T cells of the CFSE-assay representing a population of both naïve, central memory and effector memory T cells. This diversity in T cell populations activated in the two assays likely contribute to the discrepancy found in the literature and encourages thorough considerations when choosing an assay to determine antigen-specificity of T cells in future studies.