title: Oral feeding of interferon tau can prevent the acute and chronic relapsing forms of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis.
abstract: IFN tau is a member of the type I IFN family but unlike IFN alpha and IFN beta, IFN tau lacks toxicity at high concentrations. Recently, ovine IFN tau was shown to prevent acute induction and superantigen reactivation of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model for multiple sclerosis (MS). In this report, we examined the ability of IFN tau when administered by oral feeding to block development of EAE. Oral feeding of INF tau prevented paralysis in the acute form of EAE in NZW mice and chronic-relapsing EAE in SJL/J mice. In addition, oral feeding of IFN tau at 10(5) U/dose was as effective as intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection in preventing chronic-relapsing EAE, and both forms of IFN tau administration resulted in IL10 production. Histological examination revealed no inflammatory lymphocytic infiltration to the CNS in IFN tau treated animals as compared to controls. Prolonged treatment of IFN tau was shown to be necessary for chronic-relapsing EAE since removal of IFN tau treatment by either oral feeding or i.p. injection resulted in onset of disease. Lastly, sera from SJL/J mice which received prolonged IFN tau treatment by oral feeding exhibited little to no development of anti-IFN tau antibodies. Thus, oral feeding of ovine IFN tau may be a successful form of IFN tau administration for treatment of autoimmune diseases such as MS and may circumvent potentially debilitative antibody responses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Soos
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Mujtaba
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Subramaniam
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Streit
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004681:Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D051379:Mice; D010243:Paralysis / Q000139:chemically induced; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology; D012008:Recurrence; D012756:Sheep; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome
chemical_list: D007370:Interferon Type I; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins; C020947:interferon tau; D016753:Interleukin-10; D007371:Interferon-gamma