Protective DNA vaccination against experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis is associated with induction of IFNbeta

DNA vaccines encoding encephalitogenic peptides protect against subsequent development of rat experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) through unknown mechanisms. We investigated immune cell phenotypes at different time points after DNA vaccination with vaccine encoding myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein peptide 91-108 and subsequent induction of EAE. In protected rats, we observed (i) no alterations in antigen-specific Th2 or Th3 responses, (ii) reduced MHC II expression on splenocytes early after EAE induction, (iii) antigen-specific upregulation of IFNbeta upon recall stimulation and (iv) reduced IL-12Rbeta2 on lymphocytes. We suggest that the underlying mechanism of DNA vaccination is associated with immunomodulation exerted by induced IFNbeta.