title: Paradoxical effect of cortistatin treatment and its deficiency on experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
abstract: Cortistatin is a cyclic-neuropeptide produced by brain cortex and immune cells that shows potent anti-inflammatory activity. In this article, we investigated the effect of cortistatin in two models of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) that mirror chronic and relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. A short-term systemic treatment with cortistatin reduced clinical severity and incidence of EAE, the appearance of inflammatory infiltrates in spinal cord, and the subsequent demyelination and axonal damage. This effect was associated with a reduction of the two deleterious components of the disease, namely, the autoimmune and inflammatory response. Cortistatin decreased the presence/activation of encephalitogenic Th1 and Th17 cells in periphery and nervous system, and downregulated various inflammatory mediators, whereas it increased the number of regulatory T cells with suppressive effects on the encephalitogenic response. Moreover, cortistatin regulated glial activity and favored an active program of neuroprotection/regeneration. We further used cortistatin-deficient mice to investigate the role of endogenous cortistatin in the control of immune responses. Surprisingly, cortistatin-deficient mice were partially resistant to EAE and other inflammatory disorders, despite showing competent inflammatory/autoreactive responses. This unexpected phenotype was associated with elevated circulating glucocorticoids and an anxiety-like behavior. Our findings provide a powerful rationale for the assessment of the efficacy of cortistatin as a novel multimodal therapeutic approach to treat multiple sclerosis and identify cortistatin as a key endogenous component of neuroimmune system.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine "López-Neyra," Consejo Superior Investigaciones Cientificas, Granada 18016, Spain.
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Souza-Moreira
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morell
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Delgado-Maroto
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pedreño
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Martinez-Escudero
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caro
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: O'Valle
authors.forename: Raul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Luque
authors.forename: Milagros
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gallo
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Lecea
authors.forename: Justo P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Castaño
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Rey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004681:Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D009479:Neuropeptides; C099323:cortistatin