Serial adoptive transfer of murine experimental allergic encephalomyelitis: successful transfer is dependent on active disease in the donor

In an attempt to understand the mechanisms underlying disease progression in adoptively transferred experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), and perhaps multiple sclerosis (MS), this study has examined the transfer of EAE serially from primary to secondary and tertiary recipients using myelin basic protein (MBP)-responsive lymphocytes. It was found that EAE could be serially transferred only when there was acute or relapsing disease activity in the donor animal. Cells from donors with quiescent disease did not transfer EAE. Autoradiographic attempts to locate primary adoptively transferred cells in the central nervous system of secondary and tertiary recipients were uniformly unsuccessful. These findings implicate the requirement of effector cell activation in the donor and the recruitment of augmenting autoimmune cells in lesion formation.