Interferon-β therapy specifically reduces pathogenic memory B cells in multiple sclerosis patients by inducing a FAS-mediated apoptosis.

Growing evidences put B lymphocytes on a central stage in multiple sclerosis (MS) immunopathology. While investigating the effects of interferon-beta (IFN-beta) therapy, one of the most used first-line disease-modifying drugs for the treatment of relapsing-remitting MS, in circulating B-cell sub-populations, we found a specific and marked decrease of CD27(+) memory B cells. Interestingly, memory B cells are considered a population with a great disease-driving relevance in MS and resulted to be also target of B-cell depleting therapies. In addition, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), associated with MS etiopathogenesis, harbors in this cell type and an IFN-beta-induced reduction of the memory B-cell compartment, in turn, resulted in a decreased expression of the EBV gene latent membrane protein 2A in treated patients. We found that in vivo IFN-beta therapy specifically and highly induced apoptosis in memory B cells, in accordance with a strong increase of the apoptotic markers Annexin-V and active caspase-3, via a mechanism requiring the FAS-receptor/TACI (transmembrane activator and CAML interactor) signaling. Thus, efficacy of IFN-beta therapy in MS may rely not only on its recognized anti-inflammatory activities but also on the specific depletion of memory B cells, considered to be a pathogenic cell subset, reducing their inflammatory impact in target organs.