expression of chemokine receptors on th1/th2 cd4+ lymphocytes in patients with multiple sclerosis

background: th1 cells preferentially express cxcr3, ccr5 and ccr6, while ccr3 and ccr4 are predominantly expressed by th2 cell subsets. multiple sclerosis (ms) is a th1 cell-dependant chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system, and immunomudolatory cytokines could alter the chemokine expression pattern of these lymphocyte subsets. objective: this study was performed to measure chemokine receptor expression on cd4 t cells for evaluation of th1/th2 dominantly in ifn-β treated patients. methods: flowcytometry was used to detect chemokine receptor expression on cd4 t cell population in pbmcs obtained from ms and healthy control groups. twenty six ms patients participated in this study before and after ifn-β therapy and the same number of healthy individuals were included. results: the percentage of lymphocytes was 41.28% ± 10.30 in the blood of ms group compared with 36.88% ± 5.51% in the control group (p=0.017). the cd4+cxcr3+ cells were 18.86% ± 8.46% in healthy group, 30.78% ± 9.8% in pre-treated ms patients and 21.06% ± 9.23% in posttreated group (p