The effect of short-term treatment with interferon beta 1a on acute experimental allergic encephalomyelitis.

The clinical and histological picture and immunocytochemical expression of some cytokines on infiltrates in the central nervous system of Lewis rats were studied in adult rats in the course of short-term therapy of acute experimental allergic encephalomyelitis with interferon beta 1a (IFN beta 1a). There was established the beneficial effect of the short-term treatment of EAE with IFN beta 1a, applied at the early onset of the experimental disease. The effect of IFN beta 1a on EAE seems likely to be associated with the inhibition of proinflammatory cytokines and stimulation of anti-inflammatory ones.