title: Suppression of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis by the oral administration of myelin basic protein.
abstract: The oral administration of myelin basic protein (MBP) to Lewis rats prior to an encephalitogenic challenge resulted in total inhibition or a significant delay in the onset of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). In vitro lymphocyte proliferative responses to MBP were significantly decreased in MBP-fed rats when compared with vehicle-fed controls. Suppression of EAE and in vitro proliferative responses to MBP were observed to be antigen specific, since oral feeding of a control protein exerted no suppressive effect. Moreover, the specificity of MBP-induced oral tolerance was shown to be species specific, since feeding guinea pig MBP (GPMBP) or human MBP (HuMBP) induced protection only against a GPMBP or HuMBP challenge, respectively. Conversely, Lewis rats could not be orally tolerized to the self antigen rat MBP.
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D004681:Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D004676:Myelin Basic Protein / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D013045:Species Specificity; D014361:Trypsin Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D004676:Myelin Basic Protein; D014361:Trypsin Inhibitors