COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF MYCOBACTERIAL 65-KD HEAT-SHOCK PROTEIN AND OVOMUCOID IN PRISTANE-INDUCED ARTHRITIS - RELATIONSHIP WITH AGALACTOSYL IGG

The IgG of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and mice with pristane i nduced arthritis (PIA) tends to lack the terminal galactose normally o n the conserved N-acetylglucosamine linked beta1-2 to mannose in IgG. The terminal N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) residues of oligosaccharides on agalactosyl IgG may be an important component of the action of the se glycoforms. Here, administration of ovomucoid, a glycoprotein rich in terminal GlcNAc, before pristane injection was found to reduce the incidence of PIA. This observation is the second report of an intraper itoneally administered antigen that reduces the incidence of PIA, myco bacterial 65-kD heat shock protein (hsp65) being the first. The suppre ssive effect of ovomucoid was not transferred from protected to naive recipients by spleen cells at the dose tested. By contrast, transfer o f spleen cells from hsp65-protected mice to naive recipients conferred protection and this protection may be antibody-mediated. It is consid ered that ovomucoid and hsp65 protect against the development of PIA b y different mechanisms.