Cs. Deng et al., IFN-ALPHA THERAPY IS EFFECTIVE IN SUPPRESSING THE CLINICAL EXPERIMENTAL MYASTHENIA-GRAVIS, The Journal of immunology, 157(12), 1996, pp. 5675-5682
To study the therapeutic efficacy of IFN-alpha after the onset of clin
ical signs of experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMC), we tre
ated mice with clinical EAMC with recombinant human IFN-alpha or mouse
IFN-alpha. In the first experiment, 7 of 16 (44%) mice had a complete
clinical remission in the recombinant human IFN-alpha-treated group,
in contrast to none in the placebo group (0/14) (p = 0.006). There was
a higher incidence of death and severe disease in the placebo group (
7/14) relative to the IFN-alpha group (4/16). In the second experiment
, 6 of 18 (33%) mice in the mouse IFN-alpha-treated group had a comple
te clinical remission, while none of 17 (0%) mice in the placebo-treat
ed group had remission (p = 0.011), Again, more mice died or worsened
in the placebo group (11/17) compared with the IFN-alpha group (7/18),
IFN-alpha treatment significantly reduced the anti-acetylcholine rece
ptor (AChR) Ab levels, especially the IgG1 and IgG2b isotypes, and the
amount of anti-AChR Abs bound to muscle AChR. IFN-alpha treatment als
o lowered CD4 cells in the lymph nodes and spleen, and suppressed the
in vitro lymphocyte proliferative response to AChR and its dominant pe
ptide in a dose-dependent manner.