The goal of this proposal is to introduce a novel gene therapy approach for reversing progressive autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Initial studies will emphasize animal models in which disease producing epitopes have been identified. The rationale is based on the finding that adult mice injected i.v. with bone marrow or peripheral cells expressing bacteriophage lambda cI epitope 12-26 in frame with an IgG carrier become profoundly tolerant to this determinant at both the B and T cell levels. This state of unresponsiveness can be induced in previously immunized animals. Since the bone marrow-derived cells in the periphery continue to produce and present the tolerogenic epitopes to newly generated T cells, the experiments proposed herein will offer an opportunity to both induce and maintain tolerance to autoantigens by host antigen presentation. My hypothesis is that B cells are tolerogenic APC and that this protocol favors B cell presentation. Retroviral vectors, constructed to express myelin basic protein or collagen epitopes on an IgG scaffold, will be used to infect bone marrow and peripheral hematopoietic progenitor cells, which will then be injected into adult mice before and after induction of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) or collagen induced arthritis.
The aims of this project are: 1) To develop novel genetically-engineered constructs for the expression of myelin basic protein (MBP) and its immunodominant determinants as part of an IgG tolerogenic carrier. 2) To test the efficacy of these novel constructs to abrogate the immune response to MBP in susceptible strains in order to prevent and treat EAE. 3) To optimize this protocol for transfection into long-term bone marrow cultures containing B cell precursors for transfection with these constructs. 4) To test if our findings in the EAE model can be applied to another autoimmune models, e.g., collagen induced arthritis.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Clinical Investigator Award (CIA) (K08)
Project #
5K08AI001509-02
Application #
2886087
Study Section
Allergy & Clinical Immunology-1 (AITC)
Program Officer
Prograis, Lawrence J
Project Start
1998-04-01
Project End
2002-03-31
Budget Start
1999-04-01
Budget End
2000-03-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
1999
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
American National Red Cross
Department
Type
DUNS #
003255213
City
Washington
State
DC
Country
United States
Zip Code
20006
Fox, James G; Taylor, Nancy S; Howe, Shelly et al. (2006) Helicobacter anseris sp. nov. and Helicobacter brantae sp. nov., isolated from feces of resident Canada geese in the greater Boston area. Appl Environ Microbiol 72:4633-7
Perez-G, Moises; Melo, Marco; Keegan, Achsah D et al. (2002) Aspirin and salicylates inhibit the IL-4- and IL-13-induced activation of STAT6. J Immunol 168:1428-34
Melo, Marco E F; Qian, Jiahua; El-Amine, Moustapha et al. (2002) Gene transfer of Ig-fusion proteins into B cells prevents and treats autoimmune diseases. J Immunol 168:4788-95