GENDER DIFFERENCES IN EXPERIMENTAL AUTOIMMUNE ENCEPHALOMYELITIS DEVELOP DURING THE INDUCTION OF THE IMMUNE-RESPONSE TO ENCEPHALITOGENIC PEPTIDES

Multiple sclerosis (MS) strikes women more often than men, Gender diff erences in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) parallel th ose seen in MS. We utilized the adoptive transfer model of EAE to dete rmine the role of gender on the induction and effector phases of disea se. PLP 139-151-sensitized spleen cells from female SJL mice were more effective at transferring disease than male cells. However, there wer e no gender differences in the frequency of PLP 139-151-specific T cel ls. PLP 139-151-specific female T cell lines induced more severe disea se than male T cell lines. Disease severity was more strongly linked t o the sex of the donor T cells, indicating that gender influences the immune response primarily during the induction phase. (C) 1998 Wiley-L iss, Inc.