Aa. Vandenbark et al., PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF RELAPSING AUTOIMMUNE ENCEPHALOMYELITIS WITH MYELIN PEPTIDE-COUPLED SPLENOCYTES, Journal of neuroscience research, 45(4), 1996, pp. 430-438
Injection of antigen cross-linked accessory cells has proven to be an
efficient and highly selective approach for inducing epitope-specific
peripheral tolerance, This approach has been used successfully to inhi
bit induction of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and t
o dissect the relative dominance of component encephalitogenic determi
nants that contribute to both acute and relapsing EAE, In this study,
we evaluated the tolerogenic effect of the dominant encephalitogenic e
pitope for SJL/J mice, residues 139-151 of myelin proteolipid proteins
(PLP), on the induction and relapses of EAE induced actively with PLP
139-151/CFA, Our results demonstrate the powerful protective effect of
treating mice before induction of EAE with PLP139-151-conjugated sple
nocytes (SPL) on the incidence and severity of both the initial episod
e and the first relapse of EAE. Moreover, treatment of mice on the fir
st day of onset of clinical signs of EAE reduced the severity of the f
irst relapse, apparently by reducing T cell recognition of PLP139-151,
although no significant therapeutic effect was observed during the in
itial treated clinical episode, These data demonstrate the utility of
using neuroantigen-coupled accessory cells to prevent and treat relaps
ing EAE. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.