Interaction between myelin basic protein-sensitized T lymphocytes and murine cerebral vascular endothelial cells

Lymph node cells from SJL mice immunized with guinea pig myelin basic protein proliferate in vitro to the same antigen. This proliferative response is abolished by depletion of macrophages-monocytes, but can be reconstituted by the addition of cerebral vascular endothelial cells (EC) freshly isolated from syngeneic mice with adoptively transferred acute experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE). Reconstitution by EC from mice with EAE can be blocked by pretreatment of EC with syngeneic anti-I-A antisera. Freshly isolated EC from normal syngeneic mice do not restore responsiveness, but can be induced to present antigen by culture with murine recombinant immune interferon-gamma or supernatants from a variety of immune cell cultures. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that immune cells release interferon and/or other soluble factors which induce I-A molecules on EC, which subsequently acquire the capacity to present antigen. The implications of these findings relate to the migration of cells across the blood-brain-barrier into the central nervous system, and are of importance in the understanding of the pathogenesis of several neurologic disorders.