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Department of Microbiology, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan
| Abstract |
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secretion in mice given CII orally. Thus, the
neutralization of IL-4 by an anti-IL-4 Ab appears to be effective
in blocking suppression of CIA by oral administration of CII,
suggesting that IL-4 may be critically involved in its suppression. | Introduction |
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Oral administration of an Ag induces peripheral immune tolerance to the Ag, termed oral tolerance (10, 11); it is thought to contribute to the prevention of food hypersensitivity (12). Recent studies also indicated that feeding pathogenic Ags was effective in suppressing a variety of autoimmune disorders (13, 14, 15, 16, 17). This includes suppression of CIA in mice by feeding them CII (16, 17). Although the exact mechanism of induction of oral tolerance still remains obscure, possibilities include deletion (18) and anergy (19) of Ag-specific lymphocytes, and suppression by inhibitory cytokines including IL-4 secreted from regulatory T cells (20). In the present study, we have investigated a role for IL-4 in suppression of CIA in mice by oral administration of CII, by employing a mAb (11B11 mAb) against IL-4. We show here that treatment with 11B11 mAb was effective in diminishing suppression of CIA by CII given orally, suggesting a role for IL-4 in down-regulation of the disease.
| Materials and Methods |
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Female DBA/1J mice, 8 to 9 wk of age, were used in all experiments. The mice were bred in the animal breeding unit of Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan. They were maintained in a temperature- and light-controlled environment with free access to standard rodent chow and water.
Induction of CIA
To induce CIA, 2 mg of CII extracted from native calf articular cartilage (Funakoshi, Co., Tokyo, Japan) was dissolved in 1 ml of 0.1 N acetic acid (AA) and emulsified with an equal volume of CFA (Difco Laboratories, Detroit, MI). In all, 100 µl of the emulsion was injected into the base of the tail (day 0). Twenty-one days later, the animals had a booster injection of the same amount of the emulsion at the same site. To evaluate the severity of arthritis, the lesions of the four paws were each graded from 0 to 4 according to the increasing extent of erythema and edema of the periarticular tissue as described by Wood et al. (21). The maximum possible score is 16.
Administration of CII
Mice were fed daily with 1 mg of CII dissolved in 0.5 ml of 0.005 N AA through a syringe fitted with an 18-gauge ballpoint needle from day -10 to day -1 before immunization with CII. A total of 0.5 ml of 0.005 N AA was given as a control.
Treatment with 11B11 mAb
The cell line (11B11) for a rat IgG1 mAb against murine IL-4 was kindly provided by the Department of Immunology, Saga Medical School. 11B11 mAb was precipitated by ammonium sulfate from ascitic fluid of SCID mice inoculated with the cells and purified using a protein G-Sepharose 4FF column (Pharmacia Biotech, Tokyo, Japan). The preparation and characterization of 11B11 mAb have been described previously (22). Two milligrams of 11B11 mAb dissolved in 0.5 ml of PBS was injected daily i.p. 30 min before each administration of CII. As treatment controls, 0.5 ml of PBS only and 0.5 ml of PBS containing 2 mg of normal rat serum, IgG purified as described above, were given to mice.
Measurement of anti-CII Abs
Blood was collected on day 20 after immunization with CII and sera were heat inactivated at 56°C for 30 min. Anti-CII IgG1 and IgG2a Abs were measured using an ELISA (23). In brief, 96-well flat-bottom microtiter plates were incubated with 100 µl/well of CII (100 µg/ml) at 37°C for 1 h and washed three times with PBS containing 0.05% Tween-20. The wells were then blocked by incubation with 100 µl of PBS containing 1% OVA (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) at 37°C for 1 h. After washing, plates were incubated with 100 µl of a 1:600 dilution of each serum sample at 37°C for 30 min. The plates were washed, and 100 µl/well of a 1:1000 dilution of rat anti-mouse IgG1 or IgG2a labeled with alkaline phosphatase (PharMingen, San Diego, CA) was added and incubated at 37°C for 1 h. After washing, 100 µl of 3 mM of p-nitrophenylphosphate (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA) was added per well and the plates were incubated in the dark at room temperature for 15 min. Absorbance was then measured at 405 nm in a Titertec Multiscan spectrophotometer (EFLAB, Helsinki, Finland). The results were expressed as absorbance units at OD405 ± SEM.
Measurement of DTH
On day 12 after immunization with CII, 10 µg of CII dissolved in 20 µl of 0.005 N AA was injected s.c. into the right footpad. As a vehicle control, 20 µl of 0.005 N AA was injected into the left footpad. The thickness of the right and left footpad were measured using dial gauge calipers calibrated with 0.01-mm graduations (Ozaki MFG, Tokyo, Japan) immediately before and 24 h after the challenge injection. The increase in left footpad thickness was subtracted from the increase in right footpad thickness to give the value due to the specific response to CII. There was minimal footpad swelling at 24 h in response to CII and 0.005 N AA in nonimmunized mice.
Proliferation assay
Mice were killed 14 days after immunization with CII and single cell suspensions were prepared from their inguinal lymph nodes. A total of 5 x 105 cells, in 100 µl of RPMI 1640 (Flow Laboratories, Inc., McLean, VA) containing 1 mM glutamine, 100 U/ml penicillin, 100 µg/ml streptomycin, 5 x 10-5 M 2-ME, and 1% heat-inactivated autologous mouse serum were added to each microwell followed by the addition of 100 µl of 12.5, 25, and 50 µg/ml CII. The cells were cultured for 72 h. Each well was pulsed with 0.5 µCi of tritiated thymidine, and the cells were cultured for another 16 h. The cultures were harvested onto fiberglass filters using a multiharvester and counted using standard liquid scintillation techniques. Results, expressed in cpm, are average of quadruplicate cultures of cells pooled from four mice.
Cytokine measurement
Single cell suspensions from inguinal lymph nodes removed on
days 7, 14, and 21 after immunization with CII were resuspended at a
final concentration of 5 x 106 cells/ml and
cultured in 1-ml aliquots in 24-well tissue culture plates either in
medium alone or with 50 µg/ml of CII. Forty-eight hours later,
supernatants were harvested and stored at -70°C until assayed.
Cytokine production was quantified using sandwich ELISA techniques.
Briefly, supernatants were added to 96-well microtiter plates,
previously coated overnight at 4°C with 100 µl of anti-IL-4 (4
µg/ml) and anti-IFN-
(4 µg/ml) Abs (PharMingen) in 0.1 M
NaHCO3 buffer. Plates were then washed twice with PBS
containing 0.05% Tween-20, after which nonspecific protein-binding
sites were blocked by incubation with 100 µl of PBS containing 1%
OVA at 37°C for 1 h. After blocking, the plates were washed
three times and samples and standards (recombinant murine IL-4 and
IFN-
) (PharMingen) were added to each well in a volume of 100 µl
and incubated at 37°C for 1 h. Plates were washed three times,
and 100 µl/well biotinylated anti-murine IL-4 (2 µg/ml) and
IFN-
(2 µg/ml) Abs (PharMingen) diluted in PBS/1% OVA was added.
After incubation at 37°C for 1 h, the plates were washed three
times and 100 µl/well of streptavidin-alkaline phosphatase
(PharMingen) was added at 2 µg/ml. The plates were washed before 100
µl of p-nitrophenylphosphate was added to each well.
Plates were read at 405 nm using an automatic microplate reader.
Cytokine levels were determined with reference to a standard curve
constructed using serial dilutions of the standard cytokines, and
results are expressed in pg/ml.
| Results |
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The incidences of CIA in mice injected i.p. with PBS and
subsequently orally given AA were 0, 27, 73, and 93% on days 20, 23,
27, and 30 after immunization with CII, respectively (Table I
). Oral administration of CII following
i.p. injection of PBS decreased incidence of the disease. The highest
incidence of arthritis in the CII-fed animals was 47% on day 35. When
mice were treated with 11B11 mAb before feeding CII, the incidence of
joint inflammation increased up to 80% on day 30. Treatment with
control rat IgG failed to affect its incidence.
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Feeding CII was followed by marked suppression of anti-CII
IgG2a Ab production (Fig. 2
). The levels
of anti-CII IgG1 Abs were not affected by oral Ag. Treatment with
11B11 mAb markedly reduced the CII-specific IgG1 Ab levels. On the
other hand, the reduction of anti-CII IgG2a Ab production in
CII-fed mice was significantly diminished by mAb treatment. Normal rat
IgG failed to modulate levels of both of the isotypes of anti-CII
Abs in animals fed CII.
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Footpad DTH response to CII was markedly reduced by oral
administration of CII (Fig. 3
). The
reduction of DTH response was significantly reversed by treatment with
the anti-IL-4 mAb, while mice given control IgG showed no effect on
the cellular immune response to CII.
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Reduced proliferative responses of lymphoid cells to CII were
observed in mice fed CII (Table II
). When
the animals were treated with 11B11 mAb, reduced cell proliferation was
markedly diminished. Control rat IgG failed to affect the proliferative
responses.
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production by oral administration of CII
Table III
shows the effect of 11B11
mAb on the secretion of IL-4 and IFN-
from lymphoid cells in mice
fed CII. The level of IL-4 in CII-fed mice was 2.29 times higher than
that in AA-fed mice when the cytokine was measured on day 7. On day 14,
cytokine production in mice fed CII was 1.42 times greater than that in
those fed AA. In contrast, there was no significant difference in IL-4
production between CII- and AA-fed mice on day 21. When the animals fed
CII were treated with 11B11 mAb, the levels of IL-4 markedly dropped.
In contrast, oral administration of CII resulted in suppression of the
production of IFN-
on days 7, 14, and 21. Suppression of IFN-
production was significantly diminished by treatment with
anti-IL-4 mAb.
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| Discussion |
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Oral administration of CII significantly suppressed production of the isotype of IgG2a, but not IgG1 Abs to CII. Suppression of anti-CII IgG2a Ab production by the oral Ag appears to be supported by the finding by Khare et al. that feeding an immunodominant peptide of CII suppresses the production of the isotype IgG2a of CII-specific Abs, although they also showed that anti-CII IgG1 Ab production was reduced (28). Reduced anti-CII IgG2a Ab production in CII-fed mice was significantly reversed by treatment with 11B11 mAb. This finding may at least in part explain the mechanism of diminished suppression of CIA in CII-fed mice by 11B11 mAb treatment since anti-CII IgG2a Abs have been shown to mediate CIA. For instance, injection of purified anti-CII IgG2a Abs can induce arthritis in mice (29). IgG2a but not IgG1 Abs are known to fix complement, and complement fixation is required for the induction of CIA (30).
The correlation between diminished suppression of CIA by 11B11 mAb and diminished reduction of anti-CII IgG2a Ab production by the mAb suggests that CIA may be mediated by Th1 cells, a subset of CD4+ T cells, since IgG2a Ab production is Th1 cell dependent (31). Furthermore, this appears to be supported by the result that the effect of 11B11 mAb on CIA in CII-fed mice was associated with blockade of down-regulation of the footpad DTH response to CII that was mediated by Th1 cells (32). Not only anti-CII IgG2a Abs but also CII-specific lymphoid cells, cell lines, and clones have been shown to transmit CIA (8, 9).
Oral administration of CII resulted in augmentation of secretion of the
Th1 cytokine IL-4 when the cytokine was measured on days 7 and 14,
although the degree of the augmentation of the cytokine secretion
appeared to be greater on day 7 than on day 14. There was no
significant effect of the oral Ag on IL-4 secretion on day 21. In
contrast, production of the Th1 cytokine IFN-
was markedly
suppressed by the oral Ag on days 7, 14, and 21. These results suggest
that feeding CII modulates IL-4 cytokine secretion temporally, while
oral Ag affects IFN-
production persistently. Augmented IL-4
secretion in CII-fed mice appears to have contributed to the
suppression of CIA, the DTH response to CII, anti-CII IgG2a Ab
production, and IFN-
secretion, since IL-4 has been shown to
suppress these Th1 responses (33). Treatment with 11B11 mAb markedly
reduced secretion of IL-4, while suppression of IFN-
production was
significantly diminished by the anti-IL-4 Ab. Therefore, the
increased IFN-
production as well as the decreased IL-4 production
following mAb treatment might have resulted in blocking suppression of
CIA, anti-CII IgG2a Ab production, and the DTH response to CII,
since IFN-
up-regulates Th1 responses (34). Our results are
supported by the previous finding that anti-IL-4 Abs increase DTH
responses as well as IFN-
secretion, but decrease IL-4 secretion
(35), although the effect of the Abs on secretion of both of the
cytokines in orally tolerized animals has not been examined
previously.
Friedman and Weiner demonstrate that low doses (<1 mg) of oral Ags favor cytokine-mediated active suppression and high doses (>5 mg) favor anergy (36). Our results suggesting a role of IL-4 in the induction of tolerance to CII following oral administration of the 1-mg dose of CII appear to support their findings. Furthermore, as shown in the present study, the data that the suppression of the proliferative response to CII in CII-fed mice was diminished following the 11B11 mAb treatment also suggest that active suppression may be at least in part involved in the suppression.
In summary, treatment with an anti-IL-4 mAb appears to be effective
in blocking suppression of CIA by oral administration of CII. Blockade
of the suppression of CIA by the mAb was associated with a decrease in
augmented IL-4 secretion in CII-fed mice, suggesting that the cytokine
may play a role in its suppression. Treatment with 11B11 mAb was also
associated with abrogation of the suppression of Th1 responses,
including anti-CII IgG2a Ab production, DTH responses to CII, and
IFN-
secretion.
| Footnotes |
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2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Shin Yoshino, Department of Microbiology, Saga Medical School, 849 Saga, Japan. E-mail address: ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: CIA, collagen-induced arthritis; 11B11 mAb, anti-IL-4 mAb; CII, type II collagen; DTH, delayed-type hypersensitivity; AA, acetic acid. ![]()
Received for publication June 2, 1997. Accepted for publication November 25, 1997.
| References |
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