CD44 involvement in autoimmune inflammations: the lesson to be learned from CD44-targeting by antibody or from knockout mice.

CD44 is a multistructural and multifunctional glycoprotein, the diversity of which is generated by alternative splicing. In this communication we review some aspects related to CD44 structure and function in experimental autoimmune inflammation, focusing on research performed in our own laboratory. We have found that CD44 targeting by antibody, passively injected into DBA/1 mice with collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) and NOD mice with type I diabetes or actively generated by CD44 cDNA vaccination of SJL/j mice with autoimmune encephalomyelitis, markedly reduced the pathological manifestations of these diseases by attenuating cell migration of the inflammatory cells and/or by their apoptotic killing.

CD44 variant DNA vaccination with virtual lymph node ameliorates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis through the induction of apoptosis.

Standard CD44 (CD44s) and its alternatively spliced variants (CD44v) were found to be associated with the metastatic potential of tumor cells, and with cell migration of autoimmune inflammatory cells, including cells involved in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether induction of anti-CD44 immune reactivity, through cDNA vaccination could down-regulate EAE. Our vaccination technique involved the insertion of CD44s or CD44v cDNA into a silicone tube filled with 2.