B Cells & Their Role in Multiple Sclerosis

B cells…we hear about them all the time in relation to multiple sclerosis, but what actually are they? Having done a poll on our Facebook page earlier in the week, we found that many people aren’t quite sure. Ahead of posting an interview with Professor Roland Martin discussing his stunning work on the role of B cells in multiple sclerosis, we thought it would be worthwhile providing a few key facts about these immune cells.

1. B cells form part of the adaptive immune system. This means that they respond specifically to certain parts of foreign organisms (e.g. bacteria, fungi).

2. B cells play an important role in helping to activate the T cell arm of the specific immune system. Multiple sclerosis has often been thought of as a “T cell disease” and so this could be critical.

3. When B cells are turned ‘on’, they gain the ability to secrete antibodies.

4. Antibodies are secreted into the blood to circulate around the body and bind to these foreign substances.

5. Antibodies found in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is often used as part of a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. These are often referred to as ‘oligoclonal bands’.

6. Experiments have found that antibodies exist in the blood of people with multiple sclerosis that recognise various parts of proteins that form the myelin sheath.

7. Ocrelizumab (Ocrevus) has been found to be an effective therapy in multiple sclerosis. Ocrelizumab works by depleting B cells. This gives us even more evidence that B cells are playing an important role in MS.

For all of these reasons, research has started to focus more and more on the role that B cells may play in multiple sclerosis.  As mentioned earlier, in the near future, we will be featuring an interview with Professor Roland Martin from the University of Zurich.  In 2018, Professor Martin and his team published a ground-breaking study that beautifully showed the role that B cells are playing in multiple sclerosis.  It was a huge privilege to be able to sit down with him and discuss this work.  We hope that you are all excited about the opportunity to hear directly from Professor Martin about his research.

As always, if you have any questions, or want more information, please don’t hesitate to comment under this article or under the link on our Facebook page.