Background: An inflammatory insult following middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) is associated with a predisposition to develop a deleterious autoimmune response to the brain antigen myelin basic protein (MBP). Induction of immunologic tolerance to brain antigens prior to MCAO prevents this deleterious autoimmune response and is associated with better functional outcome early after stroke. In this study, we sought to determine the long term immunologic consequences of experimental stroke and induction of mucosal tolerance.
Methods: Male Lewis rats were tolerized to MBP or ovalbumin (OVA) by intranasal administration prior to MCAO and administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Neurological outcome was assessed at set points after MCAO and animals sacrificed at 3 months; the immune response to MBP in brain and spleen was determined using ELISPOT assay and degree of cellular inflammatory brain infiltrate assessed by immunocytochemistry.
Results: Animals that developed a pro-inflammatory (TH1) response to MBP experienced worse outcome, while those that developed a regulatory response (TREG) experienced better outcome. A TREG response in spleen was also associated with decreased inflammation and an increase in the number of FoxP3 positive cells in brain. In this study, tolerization to MBP prior to MCAO was associated with a tendency to develop a TH1 response to MBP by 3 months after MCAO.
Conclusion: These data show that induction of immunological tolerance to MBP is associated with improved outcome after stroke. This study, however, raises concern about the potential for inadvertent induction of detrimental autoimmunity through mucosal administration of antigen.