- Saligrama, Naresha;
- Zhao, Fan;
- Sikora, Michael J;
- Serratelli, William S;
- Fernandes, Ricardo A;
- Louis, David M;
- Yao, Winnie;
- Ji, Xuhuai;
- Idoyaga, Juliana;
- Mahajan, Vinit B;
- Steinmetz, Lars M;
- Chien, Yueh-Hsiu;
- Hauser, Stephen L;
- Oksenberg, Jorge R;
- Garcia, K Christopher;
- Davis, Mark M
Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis is a model for multiple sclerosis. Here we show that induction generates successive waves of clonally expanded CD4+, CD8+ and γδ+ T cells in the blood and central nervous system, similar to gluten-challenge studies of patients with coeliac disease. We also find major expansions of CD8+ T cells in patients with multiple sclerosis. In autoimmune encephalomyelitis, we find that most expanded CD4+ T cells are specific for the inducing myelin peptide MOG35-55. By contrast, surrogate peptides derived from a yeast peptide major histocompatibility complex library of some of the clonally expanded CD8+ T cells inhibit disease by suppressing the proliferation of MOG-specific CD4+ T cells. These results suggest that the induction of autoreactive CD4+ T cells triggers an opposing mobilization of regulatory CD8+ T cells.