CD8⁺ T cells specific for cryptic apoptosis-associated epitopes exacerbate experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

ABSTRACT: The autoimmune immunopathology occurring in multiple sclerosis (MS) is sustained by myelin-specific and -nonspecific CD8⁺ T cells. We have previously shown that, in MS, activated T cells undergoing apoptosis induce a CD8⁺ T cell response directed against antigens that are unveiled during the apoptotic process, namely caspase-cleaved structural proteins such as non-muscle myosin and vimentin. Here, we have explored in vivo the development and the function of the immune responses to cryptic apoptosis-associated epitopes (AEs) in a well-established mouse model of MS, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), through a combination of immunization approaches, multiparametric flow cytometry, and functional assays. First, we confirmed that this model recapitulated the

SUBMITTER: Feizi N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8556378 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature