title: Mechanism of natural killer (NK) cell regulatory role in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
abstract: The mechanism of natural killer (NK) cell regulatory role in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) was studied in SJL/J mice. In vivo experiments showed that NK cell depletion by anti-NK1.1 monoclonal antibody treatment enhanced EAE in mice. To investigate the mechanism, we cultured proteolipid protein (PLP)136-150 peptide-specific, encephalitogenic T cell lines, which were used as the NK cell target. Our results show that NK cells exert a direct cytotoxic effect on autoantigen-specific, encephalitogenic T cells. Furthermore, cytotoxicity to PLP-specific, encephalitogenic T line cells was enhanced by using enriched NK cells as effector cells. However, the cytotoxic effect of NK cells to ovalbumin-specific T line cells and ConA-stimulated T cells could also be detected with a lesser efficiency. Our studies indicate that NK cells play a regulatory role in EAE through killing of syngeneic T cells which include myelin antigen-specific, encephalitogenic T cells, and thus ameliorate EAE.
authors.affiliation: Department of Demyelinating Disease and Aging, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Ogawahigashi 4-1-1, Tokyo 187-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Gyorgy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fazekas
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tabira
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D016923:Cell Death / Q000276:immunology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003601:Cytotoxicity Tests, Immunologic; D004681:Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data