Single cell analysis of meningeal ectopic lymphoid tissue and secondary lymphoid tissues in a spontaneous EAE model

Objective: To investigate how similar meningeal ectopic lymhpoid tissue (mELT) is to secondary lymphoid tissues and find unique features of mELT that could allow therapeutic targetting of mELT specifically. Methods: We utilized a spontaneous chronic experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of mice with mutant T and B cell receptors specific for myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG), which develop meningeal inflammatory infiltrates resembling those described in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). We identified differences in cell composition and gene expression between mELT and secondary lymphoid tissues (lumbar and inguinal lymph nodes and the spleen) using single cell sequencing. Overall design: single cell gene expression and Bcell receptor sequences of meningeal ectopic lymphoid tissue, blood, spleen, inguinal and lumbar lymph nodes in 3 Thx2D2 mice