METHOD FOR REDUCING NEURONAL DEGENERATION BY ADMINISTERING CNS-DERIVED PEPTIDES OR ACTIVATED T CELLS

摘要

Compositions are provided for promoting nerve regeneration or reducing or inhibiting degeneration in the CNS or PNS to ameliorate the effects of injury or disease. The composition includes an active ingredient selected from:(a) a peptide obtained by modification of a self-peptide derived from a CNS-specific antigen, which modification consists in the replacement of one or more amino acid residues of the self-peptide by different amino acid residues, such modified CNS peptide still being capable of recognizing the T-cell receptor recognized by the self-peptide but with less affinity; (b) a nucleotide sequence encoding such a peptide; (c) T cells activated by such peptide; and (d) any combination of (a)-(c). The peptide is preferably obtained by modification of the self-peptide p87-99 of MBP, more preferably, by replacing lysine 91 with glycine (G91) or alanine (A91) or by replacing proline 96 with alanine (A96).