Effect of the synthetic immunomodulator, linomide, on experimental models of thyroiditis

The drug Linomide is an immunomodulator showing marked down-regulation of several experimental autoimmune diseases. In this study, its effect on three different experimental models of thyroid disease and on spontaneous infiltration of salivary glands (sialoadenitis), was investigated. Although very effective at preventing thyroid infiltrates in mice immunized with mouse thyroglobulin and complete Freund's adjuvant and in spontaneous models of thyroiditis and sialoadenitis, it completely failed to modify experimental autoimmune thyroiditis (EAT) induced in mice immunized with mouse thyroglobulin and lipopolysaccharide. There was no significant shift in the observed isotypes of anti-mouse thyroglobulin antibodies and only anti-mouse thyroglobulin antibodies in the spontaneous model were completely down-modulated by the drug. One surprising fact to emerge was that Linomide-treated donor mice, although protected from thyroid lesions themselves, were still able to transfer EAT showing that they must have been effectively primed while being treated with Linomide. It is possible that the drug down modulated EAT by interfering with the trafficking of primed effector cells.