B cells expressing CD5 are increased in cerebrospinal fluidof patients with multiple sclerosis

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Abstract
By two-colour flow cytometric analysis, we found increased numbers of B cells co-expressing the pan-T cell marker CD5 and the B cell marker CD19 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 21 patients withmultiple sclerosis (MS), compared with 17 control subjects with muscular tension headache. Only onepatient with MS, but nine controls lacked CD5+ B cells in CSF. This difference was not observed inperipheral blood. Numbers of CD5+19+ B cells were increased in CSF compared with blood in MS, but not in the controls. In both groups, CD5+19+ B cells were not restricted to small restinglymphocytes, but were also found among larger-sized lymphocytes. The relative density of CD5molecules and of CD19 molecules was lower in CD5+ 19+ thaninCD5- 19+ B cells and CD5+ 19- Tcells. CD5+ B cells are assumed to be responsible for auloanlibody production, and our resultssuggest a palhogenetic role of such cells, predominantly within the central nervous system, in MS.