Abstract
An animal model of myasthenia gravis (MG), termed experimental autoimmune MG (EAMG), can be induced in C57BL/6 (B6, H-2b) mice by immunization with Torpedo californica acetylcholine receptor (tAChR). We have investigated the effect of vaccination with MHC class II peptide I-Aβb62-76 on clinical EAMG and on T cell and antibody (Ab) responses against tAChR. B6 mice were vaccinated with the peptide (25 μg/mouse) four times prior to two injections with tAChR. The incidence of clinical EAMG in vaccinated mice was 14% (3 out of 22 mice) compared to 48% (17 out of 35 mice) in control non-vaccinated or PBS-immunized mice. The T cells of the vaccinated group showed lower proliferative responses to tAChR and to T-cell epitope-containing tAChR α-chain peptides than the T cells of controls. In addition, the Ab responses in the vaccinated group was also lower against tAChR and some of the B-cell epitope-containing tAChR α-chain peptides.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 183-190 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Autoimmunity |
Volume | 35 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2002 |
Keywords
- Acetylcholine receptor
- Immunosuppression
- MHC
- Myasthenia gravis
- T cell
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Immunology and Allergy
- Immunology