ADOPTIVELY TRANSFERRED EAE IN MICE BEARING THE LPR MUTATION

We have recently developed approaches for the generation of encephalit ogenic T cell clones from mouse strains considered resistant to experi mental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE). By allowing for the direct us e of knockout and mutant strains of mice, such clones allow for the ef ficient characterization of the relevance of specific gene products in the effector phase of EAE. Recent studies have suggested that Fas/Fas L-mediated cell death may play a role in the pathogenesis of MS. To as sess the role of Fas/FasL in EAE, we have tested the ability of wild-t ype C57BL/6-derived, encephalitogenic T cell clones to mediate adoptiv ely transferred EAE in Fas-deficient C57BL/6-lpr mice. We now report t hat mice with the lpr mutation are fully susceptible to the adoptive t ransfer of EAE. Our results suggest that Fas/FasL-mediated cell death in the central nervous system does not play an integral role in the ef fector phase of acute EAE. (C) 1997 Academic Press.