IL-10 mediates resistance to adoptive transfer experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in MyD88(-/-) mice

MyD88 is an adaptor molecule that functions in the innate signaling induced by proinflammatory adjuvants that interact with TLRs. Mice lacking MyD88, for example, resist active experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) induced by immunization with an encephalitogenic myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) peptide in CFA. We reasoned that MyD88(-/-) mice, nevertheless, should be susceptible to EAE mediated by adoptive transfer of activated encephalitogenic T cell lines, which do not require adjuvant signaling for their effector functions. We now report, however, that mice lacking MyD88 also resist adoptive EAE mediated by an anti-MOG T cell line that is strongly encephalitogenic in wild-type (WT) mice. The transferred anti-MOG T cells proliferated, secreted INF-gamma, and migrated to the CNS in the MyD88(-/-) mice, as they did in WT mice, but inflammatory infiltrates did not progress and clinical EAE did not develop. The resistance of the MyD88(-/-) mice to adoptive EAE mediated by the otherwise encephalitogenic T cells was found to result from the secretion of IL-10 by recipient T cells of two different specificities: those specific for MOG and those responding to the T cell clone itself-both anticlonotypic and antiergotypic T regulators were detected. IL-10-producing anti-MOG T cells isolated from immunized MyD88(-/-) mice suppressed the induction of active EAE in WT recipients. Moreover, the absence of IL-10 production in MyD88/IL-10 double-knockout mice rendered the mice susceptible to adoptive transfer of EAE. Thus, MyD88 signaling appears to be a key factor in determining the cytokine phenotype of T cells involved in autoimmune inflammation and regulation.