Contribution of EAE to understanding and treating multiple sclerosis

This article is a summary of a lecture presented at the 40years of Neuroimmunology meeting held on April 19, 2015, in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Neuroimmunology Branch (NIB) at the National Institutes of Health. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) has been used as a model for multiple sclerosis (MS) for several decades. There are remarkable similarities between the central nervous system pathology of mice with EAE and MS patients. However, there are distinct differences which limits the contribution of EAE to the understanding of MS. My lecture summarized the role that the NIB played in establishing EAE as a valid model for studying MS, and the role that EAE has played in my own research.