Zeitschrift für klinische und zelluläre Immunologie
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Glyceryl Tribenzoate: A Flavoring Ingredient, Inhibits the Adoptive Transfer of Experimental Allergic Encephalomyelitis via TGF-β: Implications for Multiple Sclerosis Therapy

Susanta Mondal, Sridevi Dasarathi and Kalipada Pahan

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common autoimmune demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Here, we have explored a novel use of glyceryl tribenzoate (GTB), a flavoring ingredient, in ameliorating the disease process of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS, via TGF-β. Oral feeding of GTB suppressed clinical symptoms of adoptively-transferred relapsing-remitting (RR) EAE in recipient mice and suppressed the generation of encephalitogenic T cells in donor mice. GTB also attenuated clinical symptoms of RR-EAE in PLP-TCR transgenic mice and chronic EAE in male C57/BL6 mice. Accordingly, GTB also suppressed perivascular cuffing, preserved the integrity of blood-brain barrier and blood-spinal cord barrier, inhibited inflammation, and stopped demyelination in the CNS of EAE mice. Interestingly, GTB treatment upregulated TGF-β and enriched regulatory T cells (Tregs) in splenocytes as well as in vivo in EAE mice. Blocking TGF-β by neutralizing antibodies abrogated GTB-mediated enrichment of Tregs and protection of EAE. These results suggest that oral GTB may be considered as a possible therapy for MS patients.