Young-Ho Lee, Yoshiyuki Ishida, Muhaimin Rifa'i, Zhe Shi, Ken-Ichi Isobe, Haruhiko Suzuki
Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is one of the best-documented animal models of autoimmune disease. We examined the role of CD8+CD122+ regulatory T cells, which we previously identified as naturally occurring regulatory T cells that effectively regulate CD8+ T cells, in EAE. Depletion of CD8+CD122+ regulatory T cells by in vivo administration of anti-CD122 mAb resulted in persistent EAE symptoms. Transfer of CD8+CD122+ regulatory T cells into EAE mice at the peak EAE score clearly improved symptoms, indicating an important role of CD8+CD122+ regulatory T cells in the recovery phase of EAE. This was further confirmed by an increase and a decrease in the number of infiltrating T cells in the CNS and T cell cytokine production in mice that were depleted of or complemented with CD8 +CD122+ cells. Furthermore, transfer of preactivated CD8+CD122+ regulatory T cells resulted in diminished EAE symptoms, especially in the recovery phase of EAE. These results elucidate the essential role of CD8+CD122+ regulatory T cells in the recovery phase of EAE and suggest the preventive effect of preactivated CD8 +CD122+ regulatory T cells for EAE. Copyright © 2008 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc.
Department of Immunology, Nagoya University, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan; Radioisotope Research Center, Medical Branch, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan; Brawijaya University, East-Java, Indonesia; Department of Immunology, Nagoya University, Graduate School of Medicine, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Japan
