TY - JOUR
T1 - Suppression of experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis by combination therapy
T2 - Pentoxifylline as a steroid-sparing agent
AU - Menon, Renuka T.R.
AU - Feferman, Tali
AU - Aricha, Revital
AU - Souroujon, Miriam C.
AU - Fuchs, Sara
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by grants from The Muscular Dystrophy Association of America (MDA), The Association Francaise Contre les Myopathies (AFM) and The European Commission (EC, No QLG1-CT-2001-10918, QLRT-2001-00225 and LSHN-CT-2006-037833).
PY - 2008/9/15
Y1 - 2008/9/15
N2 - Myasthenia gravis (MG) is frequently treated by corticosteroids such as methylprednisolone. However, continuous treatment with steroids often results in adverse effects. In the present study we evaluated the therapeutic potential of a combination of suboptimal doses of methylprednisolone (Solumedrol) and Pentoxifylline (PTX), a general phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitor, in rat experimental autoimmune MG (EAMG). This combined treatment resulted in a pronounced suppressive effect on EAMG and was by far more effective than each of the drugs administered separately at these low doses. The suppressive effect on EAMG was accompanied by decreased humoral and cellular responses to AChR as well as down-regulated mRNA expression levels of Th1 cytokines and IL-10 in lymph node cells and of PDE-4 and cathepsin-l in the muscle. This study demonstrates the potential of PTX as a steroid-sparing agent in the management of myasthenia gravis.
AB - Myasthenia gravis (MG) is frequently treated by corticosteroids such as methylprednisolone. However, continuous treatment with steroids often results in adverse effects. In the present study we evaluated the therapeutic potential of a combination of suboptimal doses of methylprednisolone (Solumedrol) and Pentoxifylline (PTX), a general phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitor, in rat experimental autoimmune MG (EAMG). This combined treatment resulted in a pronounced suppressive effect on EAMG and was by far more effective than each of the drugs administered separately at these low doses. The suppressive effect on EAMG was accompanied by decreased humoral and cellular responses to AChR as well as down-regulated mRNA expression levels of Th1 cytokines and IL-10 in lymph node cells and of PDE-4 and cathepsin-l in the muscle. This study demonstrates the potential of PTX as a steroid-sparing agent in the management of myasthenia gravis.
KW - Combined therapy
KW - Experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG)
KW - Myasthenia gravis (MG)
KW - Pentoxifylline
KW - Solumedrol
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=51649100460&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2008.05.023
DO - 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2008.05.023
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C2 - 18632163
AN - SCOPUS:51649100460
SN - 0165-5728
VL - 201-202
SP - 128
EP - 135
JO - Journal of Neuroimmunology
JF - Journal of Neuroimmunology
IS - C
ER -