Homotaurine limits the spreading of T cell autoreactivity within the CNS and ameliorates disease in a model of multiple sclerosis.

ABSTRACT: Most multiple sclerosis (MS) patients given currently available disease-modifying drugs (DMDs) experience progressive disability. Accordingly, there is a need for new treatments that can limit the generation of new waves T cell autoreactivity that drive disease progression. Notably, immune cells express GABA_A-receptors (GABA_A-Rs) whose activation has anti-inflammatory effects such that GABA administration can ameliorate disease in models of type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and COVID-19. Here, we show that oral GABA, which cannot cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), does not affect the course of murine experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). In contrast, oral administration of the BBB-permeable GABA_A-R-specific agonist homotaurine ameliorates

SUBMITTER: Tian J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7940650 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature