Figure 3

Frequency of T cell response to specific MBP and MOG epitopes in South Asian and Caucasian subjects. The frequency of CD4 T cell responses to the peptide panels was evaluated with respect to MBP recognition for South Asian controls (black columns) compared to South Asian MS subjects (white columns) (A), MOG recognition for South Asian controls (black columns) compared to South Asian MS subjects (white columns) (B), MBP recognition for Caucasian controls (black columns) compared to Caucasian MS subjects (white columns) (C), and MOG recognition for Caucasian controls (black columns) compared to Caucasian MS subjects (white columns) (D). As described in the Methods, epitope responses were derived from decoding responses to individual peptides from ELIspot spot-forming cell (SFC) frequencies observed in response to pooled peptide cocktails. A. South Asian MS subjects responded more commonly than South Asian controls to several MBP epitopes, notably MBP116-130 – a response only observed in individuals with MS (**p < 0.02). Comparison with respect to recognition of the MOG peptide panel is shown in (B). South Asian individuals with MS responded significantly more frequently than South Asian controls to epitopes within MOG-2-13, MOG149-163 MOG204-228 (***p < 0.01) and MOG174-188 (*p < 0.05). The frequency of CD4 T cell responses to the peptide panels was evaluated with respect to MBP recognition for Caucasian controls (black columns) compared to Caucasian MS subjects (white columns) is shown in (C) and for the MOG panel (D). For a number of MBP epitopes, T cell recognition by Caucasian MS subjects was actually less common than recognition by T cells of Caucasian controls, highly significantly at MBP16-30, MBP151-165 and MBP156-170 (***p < 0.01) and significantly at MBP21-35, MBP31-45, MBP36-50, MBP46-60, MBP56-70, MBP86-100, MBP171-185 (* < 0.05). Only for MBP101-115 and MBP111-125 (^<0.05, on one sided Chi-Squared) was there an increase in frequency of responses in MS Caucasian MS patients compared to controls. Frequency of MOG epitope recognition in Caucasian MS subjects showed more frequent responses by controls than MS patients to MOG109-123, MOG129-143, MOG184-198 (***p<0.01) and to MOG4-18, MOG39-53, MOG154-168, MOG204-228 (*p<0.05) The response to MOG64-78 was more frequent in Caucasian MS patients than controls (^ p<0.01) and the response to MOG209-233 showed a marginally significant increase in susceptibility ( ^ <0.05, on one sided Chi-Squared).