Copolymer-specific regulatory T cells suppress autoimmune diseases in mice
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -
US researchers have developed regulatory T cells that are capable of suppressing multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases in mice, according to a report in the March 24th Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Joel N. H. Stern, from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and colleagues immunized mice with amino acid copolymers and harvested regulatory T cells from the enlarged spleen and lymph nodes of these animals. The CD4+CD25+ cell lines secreted high levels of interleukin-10 and -13, both of which are known to play a key role in immunosuppression.
"The lines proliferated specifically to the immunizing copolymers but were autoantigen-nonspecific," the researchers found. This was illustrated following transfer of the IL-10-secreting cells, which not only improved experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in mice, the murine form of multiple sclerosis, but also improved two other autoimmune diseases -- "indicating they function by bystander suppression."
"We were surprised by the amelioration of three diseases by the same T cell line," senior author Dr. Jack L. Strominger told Reuters Health. "It suggests that diseases in addition to EAE and MS might be treatable by the appropriate copolymer."