Suppression of Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus induced demyelinating disease by administration of gangliosides.
Intracerebral (i.c.) inoculation of susceptible strains of mice with Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) results in immune-mediated demyelinating disease. Gangliosides are membrane components of essentially all eukaryotic cells and are abundant in plasma membranes. Endogenous gangliosides have been implicated in cell recognition, cell adhesion, cell differentiation and neurite outgrowth. We studied the effect of gangliosides on TMEV-induced demyelinating disease (TMEV- IDD). We injected TMEV intracerebrally into susceptible SJL/J mice and induced TMEV-IDD. Gangliosides were injected subcutaneously and examined for various immunological indicators. The results show that when gangliosides were administered in the effector phase, TMEV-IDD was suppressed both clinically and histologically. Cellular immunity such as delayed-type hypersensitivity, and the proliferative response of T cells against TMEV and mitogens were decreased, and only in this group anti-TMEV IgG2a antibody was not detected. Taken together, these data suggest that administration of gangliosides suppressed the function of pathogenic Th1 cells and suppressed TMEV-IDD. Additionally, this study proposes the possibility of a new therapy in multiple sclerosis.
Inoue
A
A
Department of Medicine (Neurology), Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Japan.
Koh
C S
CS
Yanagisawa
N
N
Taketomi
T
T
Ishihara
Y
Y
D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D003711:Demyelinating Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D005732:Gangliosides / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006968:Hypersensitivity, Delayed; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D017945:Theilovirus / Q000276:immunology*
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D005732:Gangliosides