CTLA-4, PD-1 and TIM-3 expression predominantly downregulated in MS patients.

Multiple sclerosis (MS), is an autoimmune disorder of central nervous system (CNS) characterized by inflammation and demyelination. Self-tolerance impairment is considered to be induced by a combination of inherited susceptibility and environmental agents. In this work, we demonstrate that a reduction in the comparative expression of well-known inhibitory receptors (i.e., CTLA-4, PD-1, and TIM-3) is importantly linked with MS patients compared to healthy controls. The relative expression of interested genes was performed on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), by using quantitative real time-PCR (qRT-PCR). Our data highlighted the role of inhibitory receptors in the maintenance of immune homeostasis in autoimmune disease.