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Deep cervical lymph node volume decreases following B-cell depletion therapy

Lele, Nikhil
Dundamadappa, Sathish K
Hemond, Christopher C
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UMass Chan Affiliations
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Journal Article
Publication Date
2025-08-25
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Abstract

The deep cervical lymph nodes (dCLNs) are sites of immune presentation and B-cell maturation from the brain, and potentially involved in mechanisms of neuroinflammation. We hypothesized a reduction in dCLN volume following B-cell depletion therapy. In a retrospective cohort, we segmented bilateral dCLN from T2-FLAIR MRI at "prebaseline," "baseline," and "post-B-cell depletion" timepoints. Using a multivariable mixed-effect regression model, we find no changes in dCLN volumes between prebaseline and baseline timepoints ( > 0.05), but a significant decrease of 158 mm following ocrelizumab infusion ( = -3.3,  = 0.005). Baseline use of a disease-modifying therapy was also significantly associated with a smaller dCLN volume and attenuated the effects of B-cell depletion. These results are congruent with therapeutic mechanisms, although other alternative explanations for reductions in dCLN volumes cannot be ruled out based on this data. Deep CLN represent potential imaging biomarkers of pharmacological or clinical utility and warrant further investigation.

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Lele N, Dundamadappa SK, Hemond CC. Deep cervical lymph node volume decreases following B-cell depletion therapy. Mult Scler J Exp Transl Clin. 2025 Aug 25;11(3):20552173251371743. doi: 10.1177/20552173251371743. PMID: 40873659; PMCID: PMC12378606.

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DOI
10.1177/20552173251371743
PubMed ID
40873659
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© The Author(s), 2025. Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).