Ikushima Hideto, Kanaoka Masaharu, Kojima Shinichi
Research Division, Genomic Research Laboratories, Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals, Osaka, Japan.
J Immunol. 2003 Sep 15;171(6):2769-72. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.171.6.2769.
Growth hormone (GH)-releasing hormone (GHRH) is a neuropeptide that stimulates secretion of GH from the pituitary gland. Although GHRH and its receptor (GHRHR) are expressed in leukocytes, physiological function of GHRH in the immune system remains unclear. To study the influence of GHRH in autoimmunity, susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) was examined in C57BL/6J-Ghrhr(lit/lit) (lit/lit), mice deficient in the GHRHR gene. We found that lit/lit mice were resistant to myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)-induced EAE. Splenocytes from MOG-immunized lit/lit mice proliferated normally in response to MOG peptide, suggesting that activation of MOG-specific T cells in GHRHR-deficient mice is not impaired. Our data strongly suggest that GHRH plays a crucial role in the development of EAE and may provide the basis for a novel therapeutic approach protecting from autoimmune diseases.
生长激素（GH）释放激素（GHRH）是一种神经肽，可刺激垂体分泌GH。尽管GHRH及其受体（GHRHR）在白细胞中表达，但GHRH在免疫系统中的生理功能仍不清楚。为了研究GHRH在自身免疫中的影响，我们检测了GHRHR基因缺陷的C57BL/6J-Ghrhr(lit/lit)（lit/lit）小鼠对实验性自身免疫性脑脊髓炎（EAE）的易感性。我们发现lit/lit小鼠对髓鞘少突胶质细胞糖蛋白（MOG）诱导的EAE具有抗性。经MOG免疫的lit/lit小鼠的脾细胞对MOG肽正常增殖，这表明GHRHR缺陷小鼠中MOG特异性T细胞的激活未受损。我们的数据强烈表明，GHRH在EAE的发展中起关键作用，并可能为预防自身免疫性疾病的新型治疗方法提供基础。
