Suppression of myosin-induced and adoptively transferred myocarditis by prior treatment with complete Freundʹs adjuvant

Background luated the effect of pretreatment with complete Freundʹs adjuvant (CFA) on experimentally induced myocarditis concomitant with the assessment of antigen-specific properties of disease-triggering lymphocytes. s and results retreated with CFA a week prior to myosin immunization developed a significantly attenuated myocardial inflammation as compared to control-treated animals. Furthermore, prior administration of CFA virtually abolished histological evidence of myocarditis induced by transfer of antimyosin lymphocytes. ministered subcutaneously prior to myosin immunization resulted in a significant reduction in lymph node cell reactivity to myosin. Assessment of cultured medium from lymphocytes obtained from CFA-pretreated myosin-immunized rats revealed reduced levels of interferon gamma but an increased production of IL-10, suggesting an induction of a Thl to Th2 switch. sions CFA treatment suppressed both myosin-induced as well as adoptively transferred myocarditis concomitant with induction of antigen-specific unresponsiveness to myosin and skewing of the immune response in favor of a Th2-dominated profile.