Annual DoD 2012 report Bongarzone

The views, opinions and/or findings contained in this report are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as an official Department of the Army position, policy or decision unless so designated by other documentation. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. Relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) is demyelinating disease that affects both men and women and is characterized by cycles of acute myelin loss, followed by remission with active myelin repair. The mechanism and the cellular source for remyelination are still in discussion, but there is evidence for the involvement of adult oligodendrocyte progenitor cells(OPCs). In this study, we hypothesized that circulating precursor cells identified by the presence of the cell surface marker CD133 may be of relevance during MS and for CNS repair processes. We measured the abundance of CD133+ and CD34+ cells in peripheral blood collected from RRMS patients and healthy controls. Our results showed that circulating CD34+ cells were not significantly affected by the disease. In contrast, CD133+ cells were significantly reduced in the RRMS patients recruited in this study. Interestingly, when CD133+ values from RRMS women were compared to RRMS men, we found that women had significantly lower values than the men (p<0.029). The fraction of hematopoietic CD133+ cells that were positive for the CD34+ marker was significantly elevated in RRMS patients. Our findings point to gender differences in the number of circulating progenitor cells in MS patients, and suggest that a reductions in CD133+ cells in RRMS may be exploited as a tool to diagnose RRMS.