Human amniotic epithelial cells suppress relapse of corticosteroid-remitted experimental autoimmune disease

Abstract

BACKGROUND AIMS: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is considered to be a T-cell-mediated disease. Although MS remits with corticosteroid treatment, the disease relapses on discontinuation of therapy. Human amniotic epithelial cells (hAEC) from the placenta are readily accessible in large quantities and have anti-inflammatory properties. Previously we reported that hAEC given near disease onset ameliorated clinical signs and decreased myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)-specific immune responses in MOG-induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an experimental MS model. METHODS: To examine the therapeutic effect of hAEC in a clinically relevant setting, we first treated MOG peptide-..