Higher expression of BDNF receptor gp145trkB is associated with lower apoptosis intensity in T cell lines in multiple sclerosis

Conflicting data exist on expression of gp145trkB, the high affinity receptor for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), on peripheral blood immunocompetent cells in multiple sclerosis (MS). We analyzed expression of gp145trkB by western blotting and flow cytometry in myelin basic protein (MBP)- and ovalbumin (OVA)-T cell lines prepared from 12 patients with relapsing-remitting MS and 12 normal healthy subjects (NHS) and correlated it with activation-induced apoptosis. We found a higher percentage of gp145trkB-expressing MBP-T cells in MS patients than in NHS (p = 0.011). gp145trkB was mainly expressed by CD8+ T cells to a higher extent in MS patients than in NHS (p = 0.04). MBP-T cell lines from MS patients showed significantly lower apoptosis intensity than those from NHS (p = 0.011). We found also a significant negative correlation between gp145trkB expression and apoptosis intensity in MS patients only (p = 0.02). OVA-T cell lines showed a gp145trkB expression similar to that of MBP-T cell lines, with a higher expression in MS patients than NHS, and similar correlations with apoptosis intensity in MS. These findings suggest that gp145trkB is mainly expressed on T cell lines from MS patients and that the BDNF/gp145trkB axis is involved in the regulation of peripheral T cell apoptosis in MS.