title: Cutting edge: mast cells regulate disease severity in a relapsing-remitting model of multiple sclerosis.
abstract: Mast cells (MCs) exert a significant pathologic influence on disease severity in C57BL/6 (B6) strain-dependent experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model of primary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). However, relapsing-remitting MS, which is modeled in SJL mice, is the more prevalent form. Given genetically determined heterogeneity in numbers and responsiveness of MCs from various strains of mice, we asked whether these cells also influence this more clinically relevant MS model using SJL-Kit(W/W-v) mice. Similar to the commercially available WBB6F(1)-Kit(W/W-v) mice, SJL-Kit(W/W-v) mice are MC-deficient, anemic, and neutropenic and have normal T cell compartments. They exhibit significantly reduced disease severity, but retain the relapsing-remitting course, a phenotype reversed by selective MC reconstitution. These data confirm that MC influence is not confined to an isolated model of EAE and reveal a new system to study the effects of MC heterogeneity on relapsing-remitting EAE and other SJL strain-specific diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Blayne A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Sayed
authors.forename: Margaret E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Melissa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004681:Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology*; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D015994:Incidence; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000637:transplantation; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D020529:Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology*; D037342:Pertussis Toxin / Q000502:physiology; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit / Q000235:genetics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D037342:Pertussis Toxin; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit