Determining Immune System Suppression versus CNS Protection for Pharmacological Interventions in Autoimmune Demyelination

Evonuk, Kirsten S.; Moseley, Carson E.; Doyle, Ryan E.; Weaver, Casey T.; DeSilva, Tara M.

Here, we used two models of EAE to understand if a pharmacological agent provides CNS protection by either attenuating CNS-infiltrating T cells or preventing myelin and axonal injury during the onslaught of inflammatory immune cell infiltration. To determine if a therapeutic agent prevents immune cell infiltration into the spinal cord, the C57BL/6 mouse model of chronic EAE is used where immune cell infiltration and disease pathology is predominantly located in the spinal cord ( Figure 1A) . To determine if a therapeutic drug provides CNS protection during the intrusion of immune cells into the CNS, the SJL animal model of relapsing-remitting EAE is used, which demonstrates disease pathology in both the brain and spinal cord ( Figure 1B) .