Elsevier

Neurobiology of Disease

Volume 12, Issue 1, February 2003, Pages 73-81
Neurobiology of Disease

Regular article
Exogenous soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor type I ameliorates murine experimental autoimmune neuritis

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0969-9961(02)00007-4Get rights and content

Abstract

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and its receptor (TNFR) have been strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease. Soluble cytokine receptors may be shed naturally from cell membranes to inhibit cytokine activity. Experimental autoimmune neuritis (EAN) is a CD4 Th1 cell-mediated animal model of Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) in humans. In the present study, we investigated the effects of soluble TNFR type I (sTNFR I) in EAN induced in mice by P0 peptide 180–199 and Freund’s complete adjuvant. Our data from two different therapeutic regimens indicate that the administration of sTNFR I effectively ameliorated the clinical and pathological signs of EAN, i.e., decreased its severity, shortened its duration, and reduced inflammatory cell infiltration into the peripheral nervous system. The suppression of clinical EAN was accompanied in vitro by a marked reduction in antigen-specific T-cell proliferation and IFN-γ synthesis by spleen cells from sTNFR I-treated mice, compared to control mice treated with PBS. These data directly demonstrate a pivotal role for TNF in the development of EAN and also suggest that sTNFR I may have therapeutic potential for alleviating GBS in humans.

Introduction

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF), initially characterized as having antitumor activity, is a pleiotropic proinflammatory cytokine, produced mainly by activated macrophages and T cells, that mediates a wide range of biological functions Vassalli 1992, Tracey and Cerami 1993. TNF plays a pivotal role in serious acute as well as chronic inflammatory conditions and is thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases Tracey and Cerami 1993, Zhu et al 1997, Zhu et al 1998, Hilliard et al 2001, Kassiotis and Kollias 2001. High levels of these molecules in serum and also at local sites of inflammation have been associated with inflammatory processes such as Guillain–Barre syndrome (GBS), multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and diabetes Vassalli et al 1992, Tracey and Cerami 1993, Hartung et al 1995, Ossege et al 2000, Feldmann and Maini 2001.

The biological effects of TNF are mediated by its binding to two distinct cell surface receptors. The receptor molecules are named according to their molecular weight as TNF receptor (TNFR) I (p55, about 55 kDa) and TNFR II (p75, about 75 kDa) Tartaglia and Goeddel 1992, Smith et al 1994. Both TNF receptors (TNFRs) are expressed on various cells types, especially on the surfaces of activated CD4 and CD8 positive T-cell subsets (Ware et al., 1991). After cell activation by TNF itself, these TNFRs are cleaved by metalloproteinases and remain as soluble forms (sTNFRs) in sera and body fluids (Porteu et al., 1990). Subsequently, sTNFRs often function as TNF antagonists by competing for ligand with membrane-bound TNFR both in vitro and in vivo (Kohno et al., 1990). These receptors are thought to protect cells from TNF and to block the activity of this cytokine after its release into the circulation Van Zee et al 1992, Hunger et al 1997. The results of some studies have shown that sTNFRs are potent inhibitors of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system Baker et al 1994, Selmaj et al 1995, autoimmune diabetes (Hunger et al., 1997), RA Mori et al 1996, McComb et al 1999, and experimental autoimmune thyroiditis (Zaccone et al., 2002). Clinical trials with soluble TNFRs have demonstrated its efficacy in treating human RA Moreland et al 1996, Moreland et al 1997, Weinblatt et al 1999, Feldmann and Maini 2001. However, treatment with Lenercept, a recombinant TNF receptor P55 immunoglobulin fusion protein (sTNFR-IgG P55), failed to show benefit in MS patients, who showed a worsening of the disease (The Lenercept Multiple Sclerosis Study Group). The reason why Lenercept failed is not known.

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) sTNFRI is a recombinant E. coli form of the “high affinity” p55 (sTNFRI) to which a 30-kDa PEG molecule is attached Martin et al 1998, Edwards et al. Preclinical study data in rodents have demonstrated that PEG sTNFRI is efficacious in ameliorating chronic inflammatory diseases, including RA Moreland et al 1997, Bendele et al 1999.

Experimental autoimmune neuritis (EAN) is a T-cell-mediated, acute, demyelinating inflammatory disease of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) that serves as a model for human GBS. The close clinical, histopathological, and electrophysiological similarities between EAN and GBS make EAN an especially suitable model for studying pathogenic mechanisms and novel strategies for treating GBS. In previous studies, we showed that a good relationship between the clinical activity of EAN and high levels of TNF-α production in peripheral nerves was consistent with a disease-promoting role for TNF-α Zhu et al 1997, Zhu et al 1998. Pharmacological compounds such as linomide and rolipram strongly suppressed the severity of clinical EAN, associated with suppressed TNF-α production in vivo and in vitro Zhu et al 1999, Zou et al 2000a. In contrast, we found that TNF-α receptor I deficiency led to lethal EAN in mice (unpublished data). In the present study, we used PEG sTNFR I to investigate further the effects of TNF-α and sTNFR I on the development of EAN in C57BL/6 mice. Our results show beneficial effects of sTNFR I administration that result in a substantially decreased severity of clinical EAN.

Section snippets

Antigens and immunoreagents

The neuritogenic P0 glycoprotein peptides, corresponding to amino acids 180–199 of the rat PNS myelin P0 protein, were synthesized by solid-phase stepwise elongation using a Tecan peptide synthesizer (Multisyntech, Bochum, Germany). PEG sTNFR I was kindly provided by Amgen, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, USA.

Induction of EAN and assessment of clinical signs

For EAN induction, we used male C57BL/6 mice bred at the animal housing facilities of the Microbiology and Tumor Biology Center, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. All mice were 6–8 weeks

sTNFR I treatment suppresses the severity of clinical EAN

To explore the roles of sTNFR I in the initiation and development of EAN, C57BL/6 mice were immunized twice with P0 peptide 180–199 in FCA and treated with sTNFR I either before the disease began, i.e., on Day 2 before immunization (prevention group), or afterward (Day 14 pi) (treatment group). All immunized mice acquired the clinical symptoms of EAN on Day 16 pi. Notably, both sTNFR I-treated groups exhibited less severe disease than PBS-treated control mice, as indicated by the former groups’

Discussion

In the present study, we show that TNF is a pivotal agent in the development of EAN and that sTNFR I treatment effectively decreases the severity and shortens the duration of EAN. These beneficial effects of sTNFR I on ameliorating EAN were associated with suppression of P0 peptide-specific T-cell proliferation, as well as decreases in Th1 cytokine IFN-γ secretion, TNF-α production, and inflammatory cell infiltration into the PNS. Both sTNFR I treatment schedules, i.e., 2 days before and 14

Acknowledgements

We thank Amgen, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, USA, for providing PEG sTNFR I. This study was supported by grants from the Swedish Medical Research Council (K2001-16X-13133-03A, K2001-99PU-12720-04B, and K2002-16X-13133-04B) and funds from Konung Gustaf V:s och Drottning Victorias Foundation.

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