IL-7Rα confers susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

ABSTRACT: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disorder that causes paralysis in young adults and affects women more frequently than men. The etiology of MS is not known, but it is generally viewed as an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS), influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Recent studies have identified interleukin-7 receptor α (IL-7Rα) as a risk factor for MS. But the role of IL-7Rα in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of MS is not known. In this study we demonstrate that IL-7Rα-deficient (IL-7Rα(-/-)) mice remain resistant to MOGp35-55-induced EAE. When compared with C57BL/6 wild-type mice, IL-7Rα(-/-) mice showed less severe inflammation and demyelination in the CNS. The attenuation of EAE in IL-7Rα(-/-) mice was associated with a decrea

SUBMITTER: Walline CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3024464 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature