Importance of cryptic myelin basic protein epitopes in the pathogenicity of acute and recurrent anterior uveitis associated with EAE

Lewis rats immunized with myelin basic protein (MBP) develop experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and associated anterior uveitis (AU), which can relapse without recurring of EAE. In this study, we analyzed the repertoire of MBP epitopes that play a role in acute and recurrent AU by injection of MBP synthetic peptides. In addition to the encephalitogenic epitopes 69–89 and 87–99, several cryptic epitopes were found to be strongly uveitogenic in Lewis rats upon immunization with synthetic peptides, including 100–120, 121–140 and 142–167. However, peptide corresponding to the MBP residues 1–20 was uniquely capable of inducing AU without EAE. Immunization with intact MBP was not essential for the induction of the recurrence of AU. The responses of T cells from lymph nodes and spleens showed a dominant response to the original disease-induced epitope with responses to secondary epitopes. In conclusion, the analysis of pathogenic determinants important for the induction of uveitis provides further evidence that MBP-specific T cells also contribute to the pathogenesis of anterior uveitis. Moreover, this also suggests that a distinct immunoregulatory mechanism exists in the eye and spinal cord because of the uniqueness of the epitope 1–20 in AU but not EAE, and the capability of MBP-specific T cells of inducing AU without EAE.