R. Ulmansky et Y. Naparstek, IMMUNOGLOBULINS FROM RATS THAT ARE RESISTANT TO ADJUVANT ARTHRITIS SUPPRESS THE DISEASE IN ARTHRITIS-SUSCEPTIBLE RATS, European Journal of Immunology, 25(4), 1995, pp. 952-957
The therapeutic effect of high doses of polyclonal immunoglobulins has
been well established in various B cell-associated autoimmune disease
s. In the present work we have examined the effect of low doses of imm
unoglobulins in adjuvant arthritis, a T cell-associated disease in the
Lewis rat. Lewis rats were treated with purified rat immunoglobulins
as well as their Fc and F(ab')(2) fragments and their protective effec
t on adjuvant arthritis was evaluated. We found that early as well as
late treatment with low doses of rat immunoglobulins induced refractor
iness to disease induction. The effect was found to be carried out by
the F(ab')(2) part of the immunoglobulins and could be adsorbed by aff
inity purification on Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The protective antib
odies were present in Fisher and BN rats that are resistant to adjuvan
t arthritis, but not in the arthritis susceptible Lewis and Wistar str
ains. We suggest that resistance to autoimmune arthritis is associated
with the presence of protective immunoglobulins and that their effect
is carried out through the antigen recognition part of the molecule.