A. Abdelnour et al., MAJOR HISTOCOMPATIBILITY COMPLEX CLASS-II REGION CONFERS SUSCEPTIBILITY TO STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS ARTHRITIS, Scandinavian journal of immunology, 45(3), 1997, pp. 301-307
The importance of the MHC class II region for the development of septi
c arthritis was studied in a murine model of haematogenously induced S
taphylococcus aureus arthritis. In the first experiment MHC class II d
eficient mice (A beta(-/-)) and their heterozygous (A beta(+/-)) litte
rmates were intravenously inoculated with a single dose of toxic shock
syndrome toxin-1 producing S. aureus LS-1 strain. The results demonst
rate that the expression of class II MHC molecules increases the preva
lence and severity of arthritis. To analyse the impact of MHC class II
haplotypes on the disease onset and progression the authors used cong
enic C3H.NB, C3H.Q and C3H/HeJ mice in the second set of experiments.
The results show that C3H/HeJ mice developed the highest frequency and
the most severe course of arthritis compared with C3H.NB and C3H.Q an
imals. Immunohistochemical analysis of arthritic joints revealed equal
number of macrophages, CD4(+) and CD8(+) lymphocytes in the inflamed
synovia in all the congenic mice. In contrast, the number of MHC class
II expressing cells was higher in the arthritic joints of C3H/HeJ mic
e compared with the congenic strains (P < 0.001). Furthermore, serum l
evels of proarthrtitogenic cytokines, such as tumour necrosis factor a
nd interleukin-6 were higher in C3H/HeJ group. This study indicates th
at MHC class II expression is necessary for the development of S. aure
us arthritis in mice and that different MHC class II haplotypes confer
varying susceptibility for development of joint inflammation induced
by staphylococci.