Exogenous IL-9 Ameliorates Experimental Autoimmune Myasthenia Gravis Symptoms in Rats

ABSTRACT

Interleukin-9 (IL-9) is a multifunctional cytokine involved in protective immunity or immunopathology depending on the microenvironment and specific disease settings. Our early study determined that IL-9 and Th9 cells participate in and promote the progression of experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG). The data from this study showed that exogenous recombinant rat IL-9 (rrIL-9) acted as an IL-9 receptor antagonist, reduced the incidence of EAMG in rats, alleviated the severity of the disease, and reduced the anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) IgG antibody levels by altering the Th-subset distribution. These data suggest that administration of rrIL-9 may provide a novel therapeutic strategy against MG or related autoimmune diseases.

Abbreviations: 2-Mercaptoethanol (2-ME); antibodies (Abs); ?-bungarotoxin (?-BTX); acetylcholine receptor (AChR); airway hyper-reactivity (AHR); allophycocyanin-conjugated (APC); antigen presenting cells (APCs); complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA); Cyanine dye 3 (Cy3); dendritic cells (DCs); experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE); experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG); flow cytometry (FACS); fetal bovine serum (FBS); fetal calf serum (FCS); Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC); gamma chain (?c); intraperitoneally (i.p.); Incomplete Freund’s adjuvant (IFA); interferon (IFN); immunoglobulin (Ig); Interleukin (IL); Janus kinase (JAK); myasthenia gravis (MG); Mononuclear cells (MNC); neuromuscular junctions (NMJ); optical density (OD); ovalbumin (OVA); phosphate-buffered saline (PBS); phycoerythrin (PE); Peridinin chlorophyll protein complex (Percp); Rat AChR ? subunit (R-AChR97-116); Recombinant Rat (rr); room temperature (RT); signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT); T helper cells (Th).

KEYWORDS:

• B cells
• experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis
• IL-9
• T helper cells

Acknowledgments

Xiuhua Yao, Jiarui Zhao, Qingfei Kong, Xiaoli Xie, Jinghua Wang, Bo Sun, Lixia Xu, and Lili Mu performed the experiments; Hulun Li and Lili Mu designed the study; Lili Mu and Xiuhua Yao wrote the paper.

Conflict of interest

No personal, institutional, or corporate financial conflicts are involved in the production and publication of this information.

Supplementary material

Supplementary data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by National Nature Science Foundation of China (81501035; 81471227; 81000511; 81671234; 81500936), Nature Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (LC201431), Postdoctoral Science — Research Developmental Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (LBH-Q15092) and the Program for Young Scholars with Creative Talents of Heilongjiang Province (UNPYSCT-2016046).