期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:2003
卷号:100
期号:24
页码:14157-14162
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2336171100
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:The ability of a remedy to modulate the pathological process in the target organ is crucial for its therapeutic activity. Glatiramer acetate (GA, Copaxone, Copolymer 1), a drug approved for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, induces regulatory T helper 2/3 cells that penetrate the CNS. Here we investigated whether these GA-specific T cells can function as suppressor cells with therapeutic potential in the target organ by in situ expression of T helper 2/3 cytokines and neurotrophic factors. GA-specific cells and their in situ expression were detected on the level of whole-brain tissue by using a two-stage double-labeling system: (i) labeling of the GA-specific T cells, followed by their adoptive transfer, and (ii) detection of the secreted factors in the brain by immunohistological methods. GA-specific T cells in the CNS demonstrated intense expression of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor and of two antiinflammatory cytokines, IL-10 and transforming growth factor {beta}. No expression of the inflammatory cytokine IFN-{gamma} was observed. This pattern of expression was manifested in brains of normal and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis-induced mice to which GA-specific cells were adoptively transferred, but not in control mice. Furthermore, infiltration of GA-induced cells to the brain resulted in bystander expression of IL-10 and transforming growth factor {beta} by resident astrocytes and microglia. The ability of infiltrating GA-specific cells to express antiinflammatory cytokines and neurotrophic factor in the organ in which the pathological processes occur correlates directly with the therapeutic activity of GA in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis/multiple sclerosis.