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This paper describes the conditions under which autoimmune T cells enter the central nervous system to attack the local tissue. During a prodromal period preceding the onset of neurological disease, the CNS tissue is converted from its physiological immune-hostile state to an immune-friendly state. At the same time, in the peripheral immune system, activated autoimmune T cells undergo profound changes that allow them to enter through the blood-brain barrier and to finally interact with local autoantigen-presenting cells. Antigen recognition leads to T cell activation and the secretion of inflammatory mediators that are responsible for the development of the inflammatory lesions and the neurological deficits.

Introduction. The risk factors for multiple sclerosis (MS) and cancer overlap to a large extent. The objective of our study was to estimate the prevalence and risk ratios (RR) of cancers in patients with MS and to identify which types of cancer have the lowest frequency. Materials and methods. We carried out research of the literature in the PubMed, Medline, and Google Academic databases, with the aim of identifying large-scale studies addressing the link between different cancers and MS. From 411 relevant articles, we selected 13 scientific papers for further analysis, comprising 109,276 patients diagnosed with MS from different countries. Results. Of all MS patients, 5.1% were diagnosed with a certain type of cancer compared to 5.5% in the general population; the cancers with the lowest incidence were respiratory, digestive, and blood cancers. Conclusions. The results of our analysis suggested that MS patients are less exposed to respiratory, digestive, and blood cancers, but more research is needed to understand if some disease-modifying therapies play a role in this regard.

Abstract: This paper describes the conditions under which autoimmune T cells enter the central nervous system to attack the local tissue. During a prodromal period preceding the onset of neurological disease, the CNS tissue is converted from its physiological immune-hostile state to an immune-friendly state. At the same time, in the peripheral immune system, activated autoimmune T cells undergo profound changes that allow them to enter through the blood-brain barrier and to finally interact with local autoantigen-presenting cells. Antigen recognition leads to T cell activation and the secretion of inflammatory mediators that are responsible for the development of the inflammatory lesions and the neurological deficits. To cite this article: H. Wekerle, C. R. Biologies 330 (2007). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]