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J. Exp. Med.,
Volume 186, Number 9, November 3, 1997 1585-1590
By

From the * Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital,
Sydney, New South Wales, 2050 Australia; and the Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-dependent sites of action in the generation of autoimmune inflammation have been defined by targeted disruption of TNF in the C57BL/6 mouse strain.
C57BL/6 mice are susceptible to an inflammatory, demyelinating form of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) induced by the 35-55 peptide of myelin oligodendrocyte
glycoprotein. Direct targeting of a strain in which EAE was inducible was necessary, as the location of the TNF gene renders segregation of the mutated allele from the original major histocompatibility complex by backcrossing virtually impossible. In this way a single gene effect was
studied. We show here that TNF is obligatory for normal initiation of the neurological deficit,
as demonstrated by a significant (6 d) delay in disease in its absence relative to wild-type (WT)
mice. During this delay, comparable numbers of leukocytes were isolated from the perfused
central nervous system (CNS) of WT and TNF
Department of Medicine (Neurology),
University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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mice. However, in the TNF
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mice, immunohistological analysis of CNS tissue indicated that leukocytes failed to form the typical mature perivascular cuffs observed in WT mice at this same time point. Severe EAE, including paralysis and widespread CNS perivascular inflammation, eventually developed without TNF.
TNF
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and WT mice recovered from the acute illness at the same time, such that the overall
disease course in TNF
/
mice was only 60% of the course in control mice. Primary demyelination occurred in both WT and TNF
/
mice, although it was of variable magnitude. These
results are consistent with the TNF dependence of processes controlling initial leukocyte
movement within the CNS. Nevertheless, potent alternative mechanisms exist to mediate all
other phases of EAE.
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