Lack of apo lipoprotein-E exacerbates experimental allergic encephalomyelitis

Exper imental auto immune encephalomyelitis (EAE) was found to have a chronic and significantly worse course in apo lipopro tein-E (apoE) deficient female mice when compared with matched contro ls. Disease measures compared included incidence of EAE (64 % versus 31%, PB/0.05, x2 test), maximal clinical score (average9/SD 2.819/2.5 versus 0.759/1.1, PB/0.01, Mann¡/Whitney test) and mortality (27.3% versus 0%, P/0.02, Mann¡/Whitney test and x2 test). A poE deficient mice had significantly increased lymphocyte pro liferation responses to bo th myelin antigens and mitogens and significantly more infiltrating lesions in the central nervous system (CNS) in histopatho logy. Defective neuronal repair mechanisms and enhanced immune reactivity in apoE deficient mice may explain our findings. C linical implications for MS are discussed