Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic
autoimmune disease of the central nervous system caused by the excessive activation of T cells.
Procyanidins are
polyphenols that exhibit anti-inflammatory activity.
Procyanidin B2 (PCB2) gallate [specifically, PCB2 3,3″-di-O-gallate (PCB2DG)] inhibits
cytokine production in T cells by suppressing the acceleration of glycolysis. In this study, we determined the effect of PCB2DG on T cell-mediated
autoimmune disease in vivo. We examined the immunosuppressive effects of PCB2DG using an
experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model, which is a classic animal model for MS. Our results indicated that the clinical score for EAE symptoms improved significantly following the
oral administration of PCB2DG. This effect was associated with the suppression of T cell-mediated
cytokines (e.g., IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-17) and infiltrating T cells into the spinal cord, which ameliorated
spinal cord injury. In addition, spleen cell culture experiments revealed that the increase of T cell-mediated pro-inflammatory
cytokines in EAE mice was significantly decreased following PCB2DG treatment. We further analyzed the glycolytic activity of spleen cells to identify the mechanism of the immunosuppressive effects of PCB2DG. The production of
lactate and the expression of glycolytic
enzymes and transporters were increased following EAE induction, but not in PCB2DG-treated EAE mice. Collectively, our results indicate that a dietary
polyphenol, which has a unique structure, improves the onset of EAE symptoms and inhibits the excessive activation of T cells by influencing glycolysis.