The IL-7Rα Pathway Is Quantitatively and Functionally Altered in CD8 T Cells in Multiple Sclerosis

The IL-7Rα single nucleotide polymorphism rs6897932 is associated with an increased risk for multiple sclerosis (MS). IL-7Rα is a promising candidate to be involved in autoimmunity, because it regulates T cell homeostasis, proliferation, and antiapoptotic signaling. However, the exact underlying mechanisms in the pathogenesis of MS are poorly understood. We investigated whether CD4 and CD8 lymphocyte subsets differed in IL-7Rα expression and functionality in 78 MS patients compared with 59 healthy controls (HC). A significantly higher frequency of IL-7Rα+ CD8 effector memory (CD8EM) was found in MS. Moreover, IL-7Rα membrane expression was significantly increased in MS in naive and memory CD8 (all p < 0.05) with a similar trend in CD8EM (p = 0.055). No correlation was found between the expression level or frequency of IL-7Rα+CD8+ and rs6897932 risk allele carriership. Upon IL-7 stimulation, MS patients had stronger STAT5 activation in CD8EM compared with HC. IL-7 stimulation had a differential effect on both mRNA and protein expression of granzyme A and granzyme B between MS and HC. Stainings of different lesions in postmortem MS brain material showed expression of IL-7 and CD8+IL-7Rα+ in preactive, but not in active, demyelinating MS lesions, indicating involvement of IL-7Rα+ lymphocytes in lesion development. The intralesional production of IL-7 in combination with the lower threshold for IL-7–induced cytotoxicity in MS may enhance the pathogenicity of these CD8 T cells. This is of special interest in light of the established demyelinating and cytotoxic actions of granzyme A.