Anti-IL-12 antibody prevents the development and progression of multiple sclerosis-like relapsing–remitting demyelinating disease in NOD mice induced with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein peptide

Abstract Treatment with monoclonal anti-IL-12 antibody injected on day 0, 7 and 10 after immunization with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) peptide 35–55 in NOD mice resulted in significant suppression of the development and the severity of the chronic relapsing–remitting experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) both clinically and histologically. The spleen cells from anti-IL-12 antibody treated mice displayed markedly inhibited MOG 35–55 specific proliferation and IFN-γ production. MOG 35–55 specific antibody production was enhanced by anti-IL-12 antibody treatment. These results suggest that IL-12 is critically involved in the pathogenesis of MOG-induced EAE and that antibody to IL-12 could be an effective therapeutic agent in the clinical treatment of autoimmune demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS).