THE PATTERN OF CYTOKINE GENE-EXPRESSION IN LYMPHOID ORGANS AND PERIPHERAL-BLOOD MONONUCLEAR-CELLS OF MICE WITH EXPERIMENTAL ALLERGIC ENCEPHALOMYELITIS

We previously observed Th1-dominated response in the central nervous s ystem (CNS) of mice during the course of experimental allergic encepha lomyelitis (EAE) with a semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-polymer ase chain reaction (RT/PCR) analysis. We report here that mRNA levels for both inflammatory cytokines including interleukin (IL)-1 beta, IL- 2, IL-6, interferon (IFN)-gamma, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and TNF-beta and immunoregulatory cytokines including IL-4, LL-10 and tra nsforming growth factor (TGF)-beta were up-regulated in the preclinica l and/or acute phase but down-regulated in the recovery phase of EAE i n lymph node (LN) of mice. Similar profiles for cytokine mRNA levels w ere also observed in spleen and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PB MC). The present study also showed that a significant down-regulation of the mRNA level for IL-6 in the acute phase as compared with the pre clinical phase, and a significant reduction of the mRNA level for TGF- beta in the preclinical and acute phase as compared with the correspon ding mRNA levels in the control mice treated with complete Freund's ad juvant alone were characteristic in peripheral immune organs of mice w ith EAE. These results indicate that no particular bias in cytokine pr oduction occurred in peripheral immune organs of mice with actively in duced relapsing EAE, and that the relative reduction in production of TGF-beta or IL-6 in peripheral circulation might participate in the in duction or remission of EAE, respectively. Our results using the anima l model of multiple sclerosis (MS) suggested that the mRNA levels for IL-6 and TGF-beta in PBMC from patients with MS may be a good indicato r to assess the disease activity or to predict relapse. (C) 1998 Elsev ier Science B.V. All rights reserved.