The suppression of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in Lewis rats by treatment with myelin basic protein-cell conjugates

Pretreatment of Lewis rats with guinea pig (GP) myelin basic protein (MBP) coupled to syngeneic spleen leukocytes (SL) suppressed the subsequent induction of experimental allegic encephalomyelitis (EAE) with GP-MBP in Freund's complete adjuvant. The degree of suppression correlated positively with the amount of antigen coupled to the SL. GP-MBP coupled to syngeneic red blood cells (RBC) also resulted in suppression of EAE and the extent of the suppression was related to the dose of cells. These regimens of pretreatment also resulted in a decrease in the in vitro lymphocyte proliferative response to GP-MBP and in the extent of perivascular cuffing in the spinal cord. No decrease in the anti-MBP antibody response was detected in rats pretreated with either GP-MBP-SL or GP-MBP-RBC conjugates. Transfer of lymph node cells from rats pretreated with GP-MBP-RBC resulted in a decrease in disease severity in recipients. It is concluded that prior administration of MBP-cell conjugates is an effective way of suppressing the symptoms of EAE.