IL-17A is associated with the breakdown of the blood-brain barrier in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.
Setiadi, A Francesca;Abbas, Alexander R;Jeet, Surinder;Wong, Kit;Bischof, Antje;Peng, Ivan;Lee, James;Bremer, Meire;Eggers, Erica L;DeVoss, Jason;Staton, Tracy;Herman, Ann;von Büdingen, H-Christian;Townsend, Michael J;
journal of neuroimmunology2019Vol. 332pp. 147-154
323
setiadi2019il17ajournal
Abstract
IL-17 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). Here, we show that blockade of IL-17A, but not IL-17F, attenuated experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). We further show that IL-17A levels were elevated in the CSF of relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients and that they correlated with the CSF/serum albumin quotient (Qalb), a measure of blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction. We then demonstrated that the combination of IL-17A and IL-6 reduced the expression of tight junction (TJ)-associated genes and disrupted monolayer integrity in the BBB cell line hCMEC/D3. However, unlike IL-17A, IL-6 in the CSF from RRMS patients did not correlate with Qalb. These data highlight the potential importance of targeting IL-17A in preserving BBB integrity in RRMS.