T cell-independent modulation of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in ADAP-deficient mice

The adhesion- and degranulation-promoting adaptor protein (ADAP), expressed in T cells, myeloid cells, and platelets, is known to regulate receptor-mediated inside-out signaling leading to integrin activation and adhesion. In this study, we demonstrate that, upon induction of active experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) by immunization with the myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein35-55 peptide, ADAP-deficient mice developed a significantly milder clinical course of EAE and showed markedly less inflammatory infiltrates in the CNS than wild-type mice. Moreover, ADAP-deficient recipients failed to induce EAE after adoptive transfer of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein-specific TCR-transgenic T cells (2D2 T cells). In addition, ex vivo fully activated 2D2 T cells induced significantly less severe EAE in ADAP-deficient recipients. The ameliorated disease in the absence of ADAP was not due to expansion or deletion of a particular T cell subset but rather because of a strong reduction of all inflammatory leukocyte populations invading the CNS. Monitoring the adoptively transferred 2D2 T cells over time demonstrated that they accumulated within the lymph nodes of ADAP-deficient hosts. Importantly, transfer of complete wild-type bone marrow or even bone marrow of 2D2 TCR-transgenic mice was unable to reconstitute EAE in the ADAP-deficient animals, indicating that the milder EAE was dependent on (a) radio-resistant nonhematopoietic cell population(s). Two-photon microscopy of lymph node explants revealed that adoptively transferred lymphocytes accumulated at lymphatic vessels in the lymph nodes of ADAP-deficient mice. Thus, our data identify a T cell-independent mechanism of EAE modulation in ADAP-deficient mice.