Immunity to the extracellular domain of Nogo-A modulates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

J Immunol. 2004 Dec 1;173(11):6981-92. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.173.11.6981.

Abstract

Nogo-66, the extracellular 66 aa loop of the Nogo-A protein found in CNS myelin, interacts with the Nogo receptor and has been proposed to mediate inhibition of axonal regrowth. It has been shown that immunization with Nogo-A promotes recovery in animal models of spinal cord injury through induction of Ab production. In this report, studies were performed to characterize the immune response to Nogo-66 and to determine the role of Nogo in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Immunization of EAE-susceptible mouse strains with peptides derived from Nogo-66 induced a CNS immune response with clinical and pathological similarities to EAE. The Nogo-66 peptides elicited strong T cell responses that were not cross-reactive to other encephalitogenic myelin Ags. Using a large scale spotted microarray containing proteins and peptides derived from a wide spectrum of myelin components, we demonstrated that Nogo-66 peptides also generated a specific Ab response that spreads to several other encephalitogenic myelin Ags following immunization. Nogo-66-specific T cell lines ameliorated established EAE, via Nogo-66-specific Th2 cells that entered the CNS. These results indicate that some T cell and B cell immune responses to Nogo-66 are associated with suppression of ongoing EAE, whereas other Nogo-66 epitopes can be encephalitogenic.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adoptive Transfer
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • B-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • Cell Line
  • Disease Susceptibility
  • Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / genetics
  • Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / immunology*
  • Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / prevention & control
  • Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / immunology
  • Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / immunology
  • Extracellular Space / immunology*
  • Female
  • Immunity, Innate / genetics
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Myelin Proteins / administration & dosage
  • Myelin Proteins / deficiency
  • Myelin Proteins / genetics
  • Myelin Proteins / immunology*
  • Nogo Proteins
  • Peptide Fragments / administration & dosage
  • Peptide Fragments / immunology*
  • Protein Isoforms / administration & dosage
  • Protein Isoforms / deficiency
  • Protein Isoforms / genetics
  • Protein Isoforms / immunology
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Species Specificity
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • T-Lymphocytes / transplantation

Substances

  • Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte
  • Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte
  • Myelin Proteins
  • Nogo Proteins
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Protein Isoforms
  • Rtn4 protein, mouse