**5. Effects of IFN-**β **in circulating cells**

An ever-expanding body of literature, sometimes difficult to integrate, defines the intricate pathways by which IFN-β mediates its broad effects. To resume the effects of IFN-β in circulating immune cells a table listing the relevant studies and findings was performed (**Table 1**).


**Table 1.**

*Main effects of IFN-*β *in circulating immune cells in MS.*

#### **Figure 1.**

*Main effects of IFN-*β *in RRMS patients (a) remission phase and (B) relapse phase. mDC – Myeloid dendtitic, pDC – Plasmacytoid dendtitic cell, cMO – Classical monocytes, iMo – Intermediate monocytes, ncMo – Nonclassical monocytes.*

A major role for IFN-β is the induction of a priming state through which production and regulation of mediators, including cytokines, are affected by synergistic or antagonistic interactions. In the treatment of MS, the most important IFN-β mechanisms of action appear to be mediated mainly by the increased expression and concentration of anti-inflammatory agents, in turn, down-regulating the inflammatory state observed in the patients both in the periphery and in the brain tissue (**Figure 1**) [23].

## **6. Methodology**

The work from our group started with the selection of the RRMS patients and collected blood from each one after assigned an informed consent. By flow cytometry performed direct immunofluorescence membrane and intracytoplasmic staining protocols to identify and characterize the circulating subsets. To functional assessment of the cells was measured intracellular cytokines at single cell level, after in vitro stimulation. To evaluation of gene expression, RNA isolation and quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction was performed.

In our group publications, one can be find the flow strategy with the description of the antibodies used and the mRNA gene expression studies performed in APCs [27], in T cell subsets [41], in γδ T cells [56] and in B cell subsets [66].

The literature search was performed using the PubMed electronic bibliographic database. The search was restricted to English and publications between 2010 and 2021. The keywords used were: multiple sclerosis, IFN-β, antigen presenting cells, T cells and B cells alone or in conjugation. The bibliographies of retrieved articles and previous review articles were hand searched to obtain additional articles.

*Peripheral Biomarkers in Multiple Sclerosis Patients Treated with Interferon-Beta DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99006*
