Intraocular inflammation in transgenic mice expressing a foreign antigen in their lens a preliminary report

Abstract

Lens-induced uveitis can be elicited in experimental animals by immunization with lens antigens, followed by puncture of the lens capsule. The animal disease, that serves as a model for the human disease (also known as phacoanaphylactic endophthalmitis), has been shown to be mediated by antibodies against the lens antigens. Here the authors report on a new disease model for lens-induced uveitis which is cell-mediated. This experimental disease is induced in transgenic (Tg) mice that express hen egg lysozyme (HEL) in their lens. Eyes of these mice show disrupted lens, but no inflammation. On the other hand, severe inflammation develops in eyes of these Tg mice following intraperitoneal injection of lymphocytes from syngeneic wildtype donors sensitized against HEL. Furthermore, the recipient mice exhibit intense cellular immunity but no antibodies against HEL.

Analysis of effects of stimulation in vitro of ovalbumin primed lymph node cells on adoptive transfer of experimental immune mediated blepharoconjunctivitis in Lewis rats

“…In EAU or EAE, the adoptive transfer of cells stimulated with either concanavalin A (Con A) or disease related antigens induced the disease, while in other systems such as experimental lens induced uveitis models, the transfer of Con A stimulated cells were unable to induce the disease6 (and unpublished data). This information indicated that both the level of activation and antigen specificity are important for the induction of diseases, and that the degree of involvement of each factor seems to depend on the nature of diseases.…”

“…We also demonstrated that stimulation in vitro of OVA primed lymph node cells augmented the infiltration of inflammatory cells into the conjunctiva. Stimulation in vitro of lymphocytes has been demonstrated to transfer their function efficiently not only in our system but also in many other systems such as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE),2 3experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU),4 5 or experimental lens induced uveitis 6. Although several factors such as adhesion molecules were identified to be involved in augmentation of the disease transfer by stimulation in vitro of lymphocytes, the mechanism of this augmentation has not been fully elucidated.…”

Mechanisms of Intraocular Inflammation

“…Recently, a new model of cell-mediated lens-induced uveitis was described [159]. In this model, wild-type FVB/N mice are immunized with hen-egg lysozyme (HEL), a foreign protein emulsified in CFA.…”