Investigation into the effect of cathelicidin on autoimmune CD4+ T cells

We have shown that, in acute models of vaccination, the antimicrobial peptide cathelicidin potentiates Th17 cell differentiation. TO examine this in long-term, chronic inflammation, here we studied T cells in the mouse model of Multiple Sclerosis. We examined T cells from wildtype mice and those lacking cathelicidin. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis was induced in 8 week old female mice - 3 wildtype (WT) and 3 cathelicidin knockout (Camp-/-, KO). On day 7 draining inguinal lymph nodes were removed and RNA isolated from CD4+ T cells. The samples were run on a Nanostring mouse immunology chip.