Oral administration of myelin basic protein is superior to myelin in suppressing established relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
(17/2313)
Oral administration of a myelin component, myelin basic protein (MBP), induces immunological unresponsiveness to CNS Ags and ameliorates murine relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (REAE). However, a recent clinical trial in which multiple sclerosis patients were treated with repeated doses of oral myelin was unsuccessful in reducing disease exacerbations. Therefore, we directly compared the tolerizing capacity of myelin vs MBP during REAE in B10.PL mice. Oral administration of high doses of myelin, either before disease induction or during REAE, did not provide protection from disease or decrease in vitro T cell responses. In contrast, repeated oral administration of high doses of MBP suppressed established disease and MBP-specific T cell proliferation and cytokine responses. The frequency of IL-2-, IFN-gamma-, and IL-5-secreting MBP-specific T cells declined with MBP feeding, implicating anergy and/or deletion as the mechanism(s) of oral tolerance after high Ag doses. We have previously shown that the dosage and timing of Ag administration are critical parameters in oral tolerance induction. Studies presented here demonstrate that Ag homogeneity is also important, i.e., homogeneous Ag (MBP) is more effective at inducing oral tolerance than heterogeneous Ag (myelin). (+info)
Tyrphostin B42 inhibits IL-12-induced tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of Janus kinase-2 and prevents experimental allergic encephalomyelitis.
(18/2313)
IL-12 is a macrophage-derived cytokine that induces proliferation, cytokine production, and cytotoxic activity of T and NK cells. Signaling through its receptor, IL-12 induces these cellular responses by tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of Janus kinase-2 (Jak-2), Tyk-2, Stat3, and Stat4. We have used tyrphostin B42 (AG490), a Jak-2 inhibitor, to determine the role of Jak-2 kinase in IL-12 signaling and IL-12-induced T cell functions. Treatment of activated T cells with tyrphostin B42 inhibited the IL-12-induced tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of Jak-2 without affecting Tyk-2 kinase. In contrast, treatment with tyrphostin A1 inhibited the tyrosine phosphorylation of Tyk-2 but not that of Jak-2 kinase. Inhibition of either Jak-2 or Tyk-2 leads to a decrease in the IL-12-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of Stat3, but not of Stat4, protein. While inhibition of Jak-2 lead to programmed cell death, the inhibition of Jak-2 or Tyk-2 resulted a decrease in IFN-gamma production. We have further tested the in vivo effects of tyrphostin B42 in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, a Th1 cell-mediated autoimmune disease. In vivo treatment with tyrphostin B42 decreased the proliferation and IFN-gamma production of neural Ag-specific T cells. Treatment of mice with tyrphostin B42 also reduced the incidence and severity of active and passive EAE. These results suggest that tyrphostin B42 prevents EAE by inhibiting IL-12 signaling and IL-12-mediated Th1 differentiation in vivo. (+info)
C10 is a novel chemokine expressed in experimental inflammatory demyelinating disorders that promotes recruitment of macrophages to the central nervous system.
(19/2313)
Chemokines may be important in the control of leukocytosis in inflammatory disorders of the central nervous system. We studied cerebral chemokine expression during the evolution of diverse neuroinflammatory disorders in transgenic mice with astrocyte glial fibrillary acidic protein-targeted expression of the cytokines IL-3, IL-6, or IFN-alpha and in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Distinct chemokine gene expression patterns were observed in the different central nervous system inflammatory models that may determine the phenotype and perhaps the functions of the leukocytes that traffic into the brain. Notably, high expression of C10 and C10-related genes was found in the cerebellum and spinal cord of GFAP-IL3 mice with inflammatory demyelinating disease and in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. In both these neuroinflammatory models, C10 RNA and protein expressing cells were predominantly macrophage/microglia and foamy macrophages present within demyelinating lesions as well as in perivascular infiltrates and meninges. Intracerebroventricular injection of recombinant C10 protein promoted the recruitment of large numbers of Mac-1(+) cells and, to a much lesser extent, CD4(+) lymphocytes into the meninges, choroid plexus, ventricles, and parenchyma of the brain. Thus, C10 is a prominent chemokine expressed in the central nervous system in experimental inflammatory demyelinating disease that, we show, also acts as a potent chemotactic factor for the migration of these leukocytes to the brain. (+info)
Impairment of TNF-receptor-1 signaling but not fas signaling diminishes T-cell apoptosis in myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein peptide-induced chronic demyelinating autoimmune encephalomyelitis in mice.
(20/2313)
T-cell apoptosis in inflammatory demyelinating lesions of chronic myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein peptide35-55 induced autoimmune encephalomyelitis was studied in several different gene knockout mice as well as their wild-type counterparts. The gene deletions included tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha, lymphotoxin, TNF receptor 1 or 2, Fas-L, inducible nitric oxide synthase, perforin, and interleukin1beta-converting enzyme. Impairment of the TNF receptor 1 pathway led to a 50% reduction of T-cell apoptosis in the central nervous system lesions, whereas the other genetic deletions showed no significant effect. Our study thus identified the TNF receptor 1 signaling pathway as one mechanism responsible for the removal of T lymphocytes from inflammatory demyelinating lesions of the central nervous system. (+info)
Oligodendrocyte-specific protein peptides induce experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in SJL/J mice.
(21/2313)
Oligodendrocyte-specific protein (OSP) is a recently isolated and cloned, 207-aa, hydrophobic, four-transmembrane protein found in CNS myelin. It represents approximately 7% of total myelin protein. The OSP cDNA sequence has no significant homology with previously reported genes, but the predicted protein structure suggests that OSP is a CNS homologue of peripheral myelin protein-22. We previously reported the presence of anti-OSP Abs in the cerebrospinal fluid of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, but not control patient groups. In this study, we tested the ability of a panel of 20-mer peptides with 10-aa overlaps, representing the sequence of murine OSP, to induce experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model for MS. SJL mice challenged with murine OSP peptides 52-71, 82-101, 102-121, 142-161, 182-201, and 192-207 exhibited clinical EAE. OSP:52-71 elicited severe relapsing-remitting EAE in some individuals. All other encephalitogenic peptides elicited, at most, a loss of tail tonicity from which the mice most often completely recovered. Mononuclear cell infiltrates and focal demyelination characteristic of EAE were evident. T cell proliferative responses were seen with all encephalitogenic peptides except 142-161 and 182-201. OSP peptides 72-91 and 132-151 did not cause clinical EAE, but did elicit robust proliferative responses. B10.PL and PL/J mice challenged with the same OSP peptide doses as SJL mice did not exhibit clinical EAE. These results in the SJL EAE model, together with the results from MS patient clinical samples, make OSP a promising candidate for autoantigenic involvement in MS. (+info)
Antibodies to CD44 and integrin alpha4, but not L-selectin, prevent central nervous system inflammation and experimental encephalomyelitis by blocking secondary leukocyte recruitment.
(22/2313)
The role of various adhesion molecules in lymphocyte homing to the brain and in inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS) was examined in mice. Activated T cell lines and clones expressed CD44 and integrin alpha4, but not L-selectin, and entered the CNS independent of their antigen specificity. mAbs directed against CD44 and integrin alpha4 prevented the transfer of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) by myelin basic protein-specific T cells. T cells preincubated with anti-CD44 or antiintegrin alpha4 were blocked only partially from entering the brain parenchyma. However, both antibodies efficiently prevented CNS inflammation and clinical expression of EAE when injected in vivo. This effect lasted as long as antibodies were administered. Antibodies specific for L-selectin had no effect on homing of encephalitogenic T cells to the brain or development of EAE. Antiintegrin alpha4 and anti-CD44 did not impair the activation and function of encephalitogenic T cells in vitro and did not deplete integrin alpha4- or CD44-positive cells in vivo. These data suggest that, in the absence of leukocyte recruitment, the entry of a reduced number of activated myelin basic protein-reactive T cells in the CNS is not sufficient for the development and expression of EAE. We propose that antibodies to integrin alpha4 and CD44 prevent clinical disease by partially targeting the primary influx of encephalitogenic T cells and by preventing the secondary influx of leukocytes to lesions initiated by the transferred T cells. (+info)
Expansion of neonatal tolerance to self in adult life: I. The role of a bacterial adjuvant in tolerance spread.
(23/2313)
T cell neonatal tolerance to self evolves perturbation of the Th1/Th2 balance towards Th2-type self-specific T cells. In the current study we have demonstrated that a tolerant state could be extended to another encephalitogenic determinant only if the neonatally tolerizing determinant was co-administered in adult life with an emulsion of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (i.e. complete Freund's adjuvant). The mechanisms underlying tolerance elicitation and expansion were then explored by an in vitro system in which indirect suppression could be measured. Addition of a tolerizing epitope to splenic T cells from neonatally tolerized animals induced a marked suppression of the anti-MT response. This response could be restored by neutralizing antibodies to IL-4. In contrast, the neutralizing antibodies to IL-4 had no affect on the response of these cells to the tolerizing determinant. These findings are highly significant not only because they explore the important role of microbial antigens in neonatal tolerance, but also because they distinguish, for the first time, between tolerizing and tolerized T cells. (+info)
Expansion of neonatal tolerance to self in adult life: II. Tolerance preferentially spreads in an intramolecular manner.
(24/2313)
Newborn rats exposed to a myelin basic protein determinant acquired long-lasting resistance to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis induced by another determinant only if both determinants are co-administered in adult life. We demonstrate here that during the course of disease both the anti-self response and the tolerant state spread in an intramolecular and not an intermolecular manner. Mechanisms involved in tolerance elicitation and expansion are then explored using an in vitro system in which indirect suppression could be measured. (+info)