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*
Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology Division, Imperial College School of Medicine, Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom;
Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine, London, United Kingdom;
University Department of Histopathology, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, United Kingdom; and
Rheumatology Division, University of Messina Medical School, Messina, Italy
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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IL-10 was originally discovered as a factor produced by mouse
CD4+ Th2 cells that was capable of inhibiting the
synthesis of IFN-
by Th1 T cells (10). Its
anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties have emerged
from a number of studies showing that IL-10 can inhibit the production
of proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1, IL-12, IL-6, and TNF-
and
that it can reduce Ag-specific CD4+ T cell
responses through its potent effects on APCs (11).
However, IL-10 has shown several stimulatory effects on the immune
system. In contrast to its effects on CD4+ T
cells, IL-10 enhances the proliferation and cytolytic activity of
CD8+ T cells (12); in vitro it may
act as a potent stimulator of mouse B lymphocytes and mast cells; it
augments B cell differentiation, Ig production, and Ag presentation;
and it enhances Ab-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxic activity
(13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18). In addition, IL-10 is described as a
chemoattractant factor for CD8+ T cells
(19).
Recent studies have suggested that cytokines, and TNF-
in
particular, are pivotal to the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis
(RA),3 a chronic
disease characterized by immune dysregulation associated with cellular
and humoral hypersensitivity, and an imbalance between pro- and
anti-inflammatory/immunosuppressive effects probably contributes to
the chronicity of this disease (20, 21, 22). Several studies
performed on sera or synovial samples from patients with RA support an
important immunoregulatory role for IL-10 in RA. IL-10 expression was
increased in serum and synovial fluid from RA patients compared with
that in osteoarthritis patients and healthy individuals
(23, 24, 25), and in our laboratory evaluation of RA synovial
tissue demonstrated increased IL-10 expression by immunostaining,
ELISA, and RT-PCR analysis. Furthermore, a neutralizing mAb to IL-10
profoundly enhanced TNF-
and IL-1
production in RA joint
cultures, suggesting a role for IL-10 as a major endogenous immune
regulator and, hence, a potential therapeutic agent (26).
Indeed, in vivo studies from our laboratory (7) and others
(6, 8) have demonstrated the efficacy of repeated systemic
administration of IL-10 protein in experimental arthritis. However,
these studies showed different results regarding humoral immune
responses to collagen type II (CII). In our laboratory no significant
differences in the Ab profile between controls and IL-10-injected
animals has been observed over the 10-day treatment period
(7). On the contrary, other investigators found a
reduction of autoantibodies to CII in rat collagen-induced arthritis
(CIA) when IL-10 was administered systemically and an increase when it
was injected locally in the paws (8). CIA is an
experimental model for RA in which humoral and cellular immune
responses to the disease-inducing Ag CII are involved in initiating and
maintaining the autoimmune inflammatory process. To further clarify
whether IL-10 gene delivery is therapeutic in established CIA the
adenovirus-mediated gene transfer technology, known to yield elevated
serum levels of a specific protein (27), was used in the
present study. Moreover, because a major side effect of i.v. delivered
adenoviral vectors is hepatic inflammation (28) consequent
to the predominant expression of the transgene in the liver (29, 30) and to MHC class I-restricted CD8+
cytolytic T cell responses toward the transduced hepatocytes
(31, 32), we also analyze here whether murine IL-10
(mIL-10) gene delivery is able to suppress adenovirus-induced hepatic
inflammation.
Previous reported studies of IL-10 gene transfer have been performed using adenoviral vectors injected either systemically or locally (33, 34, 35, 36), but have all been performed with the EBV IL-10 homologue, termed viral IL-10. The results show efficacy, mainly as a prophylactic treatment, whereas therapy of established disease has yielded conflicting results. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to assess the therapeutic potential of prolonged homologous mIL-10 administration via systemic adenoviral gene transfer on established autoimmune arthritis.
| Materials and Methods |
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The recombinant E1-deleted type 5 adenoviral vectors, encoding a mouse IL-10 (AdIL-10) under the transcriptional control of the Rous sarcoma virus, or having no insert (Ad0), were generated by M. J. Dallman (Imperial College, London, U.K.) and H. Charlton (University of Oxford, Oxford, U.K.). Viruses were propagated in the 293 human embryonic kidney carcinoma cell line and purified by two rounds of cesium chloride (CsCl; Roche, Lewes, U.K.) density gradient centrifugation. After dialysis against PBS to remove CsCl, glycerol was added to a final concentration of 10%. The viral preparations were passed through a 0.2-µm pore size filter, aliquoted, and stored at -80°C. Recombinant adenoviruses were titrated in 293 cells using limiting dilution and PFU assays and expressed as PFU per milliliter as previously described (37).
Induction and assessment of arthritis
The induction and assessment of CIA were performed as previously described (38). Briefly, male DBA/1 mice, 810 wk old, were immunized intradermally with 100 µg of bovine type II collagen emulsified in CFA (Difco, West Molesey, U.K.). The onset of arthritis was considered to be the day that erythema and/or swelling were first observed, and arthritic mice were given a daily clinical score per limb from 0 to 3: 0 = normal; 1 = slight erythema and swelling; 2 = pronounced edematous swelling; and 3 = joint deformity with ankylosis, resulting in a maximum score of 12 per animal. Paw thickness of the first affected hind paw per mouse was assessed using calipers (Kroeplin, Schluchlem, Germany).
Treatment protocol
For CIA treatment AdIL-10 was injected at doses that have been shown to yield elevated serum levels of the protein encoded (107 and 108 PFU in 100 µl of isotonic saline/mouse) into the tail vein (i.v.) once at the onset of arthritis (day 1), and mice were monitored for disease progression up to day 21. To confirm our previous observation that injection of the viral vector itself had no effect on the progression of CIA (39, 40) 108 PFU of the empty vector Ad0 was also administered. Blood samples were obtained from all treated and control mice, and serum was stored at -80°C until use. To assess the effects of IL-10 delivery via recombinant adenovirus on delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) responses to the viral Ags and on the hepatic inflammatory reactions reported when higher doses of adenovirus are administered systemically, 109 PFU/mouse of AdIL-10 and of the empty vector Ad0 were infused i.v. None of the animals that received recombinant adenoviruses showed adverse effects (100% survival rate, normal coat appearance or general activity) compared with untreated controls.
Detection of mIL-10 protein
mIL-10 protein was detected by ELISA in diluted serum samples from the 108 PFU AdIL-10-injected mice. Briefly, microtiter plates were coated with anti-mIL-10-coating mAb (PharMingen, San Diego, CA) dissolved in PBS overnight at 4°C. After blocking for 3 h with 2% BSA, dilutions of sera from AdIL-10-treated and arthritic controls from 1/25 to 1/6250 were applied to the wells and incubated overnight at 4°C. Each plate included a standard curve of recombinant mouse IL-10 (PharMingen). After washing thoroughly, 50 µl of a detection mAb diluted 1/2000 (PharMingen) was added to all wells, and plates were incubated overnight at 4°C. After washing, 50 µl of streptavidin-biotinylated HRP complex at a dilution of 1/6000 (Amersham, Aylesbury, U.K.) was added to the wells and incubated for an additional 1 h at 37°C. The plates were then developed using tetramethylbenzidine dihydrochloride (Kirkegaard & Perry, Gaithersburg, MD) as substrate reagent, and OD was assessed at 450 nm using a spectrophotometer (Labsystems Multiskan, Helsinki, Finland); the sensitivity of the assay was 123 pg/ml.
Assessment of T cell responses by proliferation assay and cytokine production
Inguinal and popliteal lymph nodes were aseptically removed from
AdIL-10-treated and control arthritic mice 14 days after arthritis
onset and start of treatment. Cells (5 x
105) were cultured in 0.2 ml of DMEM supplemented
with 2% heat-inactivated FCS, 100 U/ml, penicillin 100 µg/ml
streptomycin, 2 x 10-5 M 2-ME, and 1%
glutamine in a 96-well flat-bottom plate. Cells were cultured in medium
alone or in the presence of 50 µg/ml of denatured bovine type II
collagen or 10 µg/ml of an anti-CD3 mAb (2C11-145) and incubated
at 37°C in 5% CO2. To assess T lymphocyte
proliferative responses, 72 h later plates were pulsed with 1
µCi/well of [3H]thymidine (Amersham),
incubated for an additional 24 h, then harvested onto glass-fiber
filters with a semiautomated cell harvester (Titer-Tek 550; Flow
Laboratories, Irvine, CA). Cellular DNA synthesis was assessed by
[3H]thymidine incorporation using a liquid
scintillation spectrometer (LKB, Bromma, Sweden). Results are expressed
as the arithmetic mean counts per minute of triplicate cultures ±
SEM. For detection of IFN-
and IL-4 production, cell culture
supernatants were harvested at 48 h and analyzed by standard
ELISAs (PharMingen).
Ab determinations
Anti-CII Ab levels were tested in individual sera by ELISA. Microtiter plates were coated with 2 µg/ml of CII dissolved in Tris-buffered saline overnight at 4°C. After blocking for 1 h with 2% BSA, dilutions of sera from 1/50 to 1/6400 were applied to the wells. For isotype quantitation sheep anti-mouse IgG1 and IgG2a linked to alkaline phosphatase (The Binding Site, Birmingham, U.K.) were used at a dilution of 1/5000. The plates were developed using p-nitrophenyl phosphate (Sigma) as substrate, and OD was assessed at 405 nm using a spectrophotometer (Labsystems Multiskan). Each plate included a standard curve of a positive serum used to define arbitrary units of total IgG1 and IgG2a anti-CII Abs.
DTH reactions
Mice were sensitized to adenoviral proteins by the s.c. injection of 109 PFU/mouse of UV-inactivated Ad0 in CFA (Difco) at two sites into the ventral flanks. On day 8 following immunization mice were challenged by s.c. injections of 109 PFU of UV-inactivated Ad0 in 10 µl into one hind footpad, while the contralateral footpad received 10 µl of vehicle alone (PBS plus 10% glycerol). Measurements of increase in paw thickness were performed using a caliper (Kroeplin, Schluchlem, Germany) at 24 and 48 h, and the magnitude of DTH response was assessed by subtracting the thickness of the virus-injected footpad by the thickness of the vehicle-injected footpad. Six animals per treatment group were analyzed, and results are expressed as the mean footpad swelling ± SEM measured by subtracting the paw thickness recorded before challenge from the thickness of the same paw 24 h after challenge.
Hepatic morphological analyses
Livers from DBA/1 mice injected i.v. with
109 PFU of AdIL-10 or the empty vector Ad0 along
with livers from naive DBA/1-uninjected mice were analyzed. Paraffin
sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin according to standard
procedures and analyzed in a blinded fashion by two pathologists. A
custom-made scoring system for this study was designed based on the
degree of hepatitis observed in liver sections obtained from four mice
3 wk after the i.v. injection of a high dose
(1010 PFU) of the empty adenoviral vector
compared with sections from livers of two untreated naive mice (see
Table I
). Each pathologist analyzed the
sections independently and was unaware of the treatment details. A
preliminary overall inflammation score was given to each section. To
align each observers threshold, the observations were subsequently
compared. Those sections showing discrepancies were reviewed and
discussed together using a multihead microscope until final agreement
was reached. Four parameters were then assessed individually, including
portal inflammation, parenchymal (lobular) inflammation, apoptosis, and
mitoses. Portal inflammation was graded as mild if portal tracts were
not expanded and contained a few inflammatory cells, moderate if portal
tracts were expanded but not packed by inflammatory cells, and severe
if portal tracts were expanded and packed with/without involvement of
the hepatocyte limiting plate. Scoring was obtained from the most
inflamed portal tracts. Parenchymal inflammation was graded by counting
the number of necroinflammatory foci in a total of 10 circular areas
measuring 2 mm in diameter (x200 magnification) and chosen randomly.
The overall consensus agreement grades of inflammation were then used
to set the limits for three levels of parenchymal inflammation: grade
1 = 14 foci, grade 2 = 510 foci, and grade 3 >10 foci.
Apoptosis and mitotic activity were graded by counting the number of
acidophilic bodies and mitotic figures, respectively, in a total of 10
circular areas measuring 2 mm in diameter (x200 magnification) and
chosen randomly. The scores were divided into three categories of equal
size using the highest score as the maximum: apoptosis grade 1 =
15 foci, grade 2 = 610 foci, grade 3 =
10 foci, mitoses
grade 1 = 14 foci, grade 2 = 58 foci, and grade 3
8
foci. A final score was then obtained by adding up each individual
score of portal and parenchymal inflammation, apoptosis, and mitoses.
The highest number was considered the upper limit of each category, as
designated by overall consensus agreement. Mild inflammation was
considered for scores between 2 and 4, moderate inflammation for scores
between 5 and 7, and severe inflammation for scores
8. A final score
of 1 was considered not relevant for inflammation. On the basis of this
novel scoring system, livers from DBA/1 mice injected i.v. with
109 PFU of AdIL-10 or the empty vector along with
livers from naive uninjected mice were analyzed.
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For statistical analysis of macroscopic data the Mann-Whitney U test of significance was applied, using a Minitab statistical software package (Minitab, State College, PA). Differences were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05.
| Results |
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We have previously shown that daily i.p. administration of mIL-10
after the onset of macroscopic arthritis over a 10-day period
significantly inhibited the progression of mouse CIA (7).
To investigate the effects of prolonged mouse IL-10 administration we
used a gene transfer technology known to yield in vivo elevated and
relatively steady serum levels of a specific protein (27).
Other investigators have addressed this question using the EBV viral
homologue of IL-10 (AdvIL-10), but the results for established
arthritis are controversial (34, 36, 41). In the present
study a replication-deficient recombinant adenovirus AdIL-10 was
administered i.v. once at 107 and
108 PFU/mouse on the day of arthritis onset (day
1). Controls consisted of mice treated with PBS or
108 PFU of the control adenovirus Ad0. As shown
in Fig. 1
A, at both doses
AdIL-10 treatment was very effective in controlling the progression of
articular inflammation, statistically significant from day 5
(p = 0.01) until day 21
(p = 0.007), confirming the previous short term
studies with injection of mouse IL-10 protein (7).
Administration of a control adenoviral vector did not affect the
progression of established arthritis (Fig. 1
B), as
previously observed (39, 40). To assess gene transduction,
a time course of mouse IL-10 produced individually by four mice
injected with 108 PFU of AdIL-10 was performed on
diluted serum samples obtained on days 1, 3, 7, 10, 17, and 21 (see
Fig. 2
). Serum concentrations of IL-10
were undetectable in arthritic controls and on day 1 postadenoviral
injection; on day 3 one mouse showed a serum concentration of 30 ng/ml.
By day 7 elevated amounts of mIL-10 were measured (mean ± SEM,
104 ± 33.9 ng/ml); these levels peaked on day 10 (mean ±
SEM, 431.9 ± 191.8 ng/ml) and declined on day 17 (mean ±
SEM, 288.9 ± 85 ng/ml), but were still high on day 21 (mean
± SEM, 151 ± 64.9 ng/ml). AdIL-10 treatment was also effective
in reducing articular swelling as assessed by measuring paw thickness
throughout the length of the experiments (data not shown).
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It has been demonstrated that the development of CIA is associated
with high levels of cell-mediated and humoral immunity to collagen
(42). To determine whether Ag-specific T cell responses
were affected by AdIL-10 treatment, lymph node cell proliferation
assays were performed in animals injected with AdIL-10 at
108 PFU/mouse or arthritic controls as specified
in Materials and Methods. The results from one
representative experiment (of two performed) are shown in Fig. 3
A. Fourteen days after
disease onset and adenoviral injection T cell proliferative responses
of AdIL-10-treated mice to the disease-inducing Ag CII were markedly
reduced compared with the responses of same stage arthritic controls.
These in vivo data support previous in vitro findings where IL-10 was
shown to reduce Ag-specific CD4+ T cell responses
through its potent monocyte/macrophage and APC inhibition (43, 44) and are consistent with the interpretation that CII-reactive
T cells are continuously induced and pathogenic even during the course
of established arthritis. Furthermore, cytokine analysis of
supernatants from AdIL-10-treated cell cultures revealed a significant
reduction in the amount of IFN-
produced in response to CII in vitro
restimulation, whereas elevated amounts of IFN-
were still produced
when cells were stimulated in vitro with a polyclonal activator of
lymphocytes, a soluble anti-CD3 mAb, supporting the idea that IL-10
exerts its suppressive effect on lymphocyte activation by specifically
interfering with Ag presentation by APCs (Fig. 3
B). IL-4
production assayed in the same culture supernatants was not detectable,
indicating that lymphocytes of the Th2 subtype were not induced, at
least in detectable numbers, by the continuous IL-10 delivery achieved
with this gene transfer technology.
|
The above results suggest that transgenic expression of mouse
IL-10, even in the late stage of an in vivo immune response, can
diminish Ag-specific T cell responsiveness, thereby suppressing an
established autoimmune response. However, in our experiments
measurement of anti-CII Ab responses in AdIL10-treated and same
stage arthritic control mice showed no significant differences in the
amount of anti-CII IgG1 or IgG2a isotypes (data not shown). This
may suggest that IL-10 treatment in CIA, even at the high circulating
serum concentrations achieved with the adenoviral gene transfer for a
prolonged time, does not amplify anti-CII humoral responses,
despite its reported B cell stimulator activities in vitro, for a
possible in vivo compensatory mechanism given the significant reduction
of CII-specific T cell help to B lymphocytes (see Fig. 3
A)
also occurring at the same time. Thus, the Ab reduction predictable by
IL-10 immunosuppression of CII-specific T cell responses may be
counterbalanced by the IL-10-mediated stimulation of B-lymphocytes.
Systemic adenovirus-mediated gene transfer induces mild hepatic inflammation, which is partially overcome by AdIL-10 treatment
Evaluation of adenoviral technology for systemic in vivo gene
delivery has revealed several important limitations, particularly
related to the hepatic tropism of i.v. administered adenoviruses, which
has been shown to cause liver inflammation. Even if the recombinant
constructs used lack E1a and E1b early transcriptional regions, newly
synthesized adenoviral proteins are nonetheless expressed on the
surface of transduced cells, leading to the generation of specific
cellular immune responses to the genetically modified hepatocytes,
particularly when high doses of the adenoviral vector are administered,
which results in liver inflammation (31, 32). To assess
whether the adenoviral delivery of IL-10 was capable of reverting this
response, groups of three DBA/1 mice were injected into the tail vein
with 109 PFU/mouse of either the AdIL-10
adenovirus or the empty vector Ad0. A dose of the adenovirus construct
higher than that used therapeutically in CIA was administered i.v. to
clearly detect the liver inflammation, if any, caused by the vector as
previously described (32). At the time of sacrifice none
of the treated animals showed signs of liver dysfunction, and
macroscopic examination of livers revealed no gross anatomical
alterations. Hematoxylin- and eosin-stained liver sections from all
mice were subsequently analyzed and scored according to a newly
developed scoring system described in Materials and Methods,
as we felt that previously used scoring systems designed for evaluation
of the degree of activity of viral chronic hepatitis in humans (e.g.,
Knodell, Ishak, and Scheuer systems) would not be applicable in this
context (see Table I
). As shown in Table II
, the global assessment of the four
parameters evaluated for scoring hepatitis clearly showed no
inflammation in naive mice (Fig. 4
A) and showed the presence of
hepatic inflammation in mice treated with 109 PFU
of the empty adenoviral vector, even if overall it could be considered
mild hepatitis (Fig. 4
B). When a higher dose,
1010 PFU (see Table I
), was infused to set the
upper limit of adenovirus-induced hepatic inflammation for the four
parameters evaluated, a more severe hepatitis score was indeed
observed, consistent with previous findings of the dose-dependency of
adenovirus-induced pathology, with only high doses of adenovirus
infused being harmful (32, 45, 46). Mice that had been
injected with 109 PFU of the adenovirus encoding
mouse IL-10 showed a markedly reduced hepatitis score (see Table II
),
but signs of mild liver pathology were nonetheless observed compared
with naive untreated mice (Fig. 4
C).
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It has been previously reported that in vivo injection of
adenoviral vectors in high doses may cause inflammation due to
cell-mediated immune responses to the viral Ags, which, depending on
the site, could yield adverse effects on organ function (45, 47). DTH is an in vivo T cell-dependent immune response
manifested as an inflammatory reaction at the site of Ag deposition
that reaches peak intensity 2448 h after antigenic challenge and
represents an important source of information concerning in vivo T cell
function. Hence, we also evaluated in the present study DTH responses
to increasing doses of the empty adenoviral vector to investigate
cellular immune responses to adenoviral proteins in vivo. Groups of six
mice were sensitized s.c. with increasing doses of Ad0, and 8 days
later a challenge dose of 109 PFU of Ad0 in 10
µl was injected s.c. into one footpad while the contralateral
received vehicle alone. Only with the highest sensitizing dose of
109 PFU was a mild edematous response observed
(data not shown). Indeed, to achieve a good detectable DTH response
that could allow us to clearly assess the effect of the virally encoded
IL-10 on DTH, virus had to be administered emulsified in CFA as
reported in standard protocols for eliciting DTH responses to proteins
(48). We then addressed the question of whether IL-10
delivered systemically via an adenoviral vector could influence this
response. Two approaches were used: 109 PFU of
AdIL-10 (a dose higher than that used for CIA treatment and for
assessing IL-10 production) or 109 PFU of the
control Ad0 virus was injected i.v., either 3 days before the
sensitization phase of DTH (the s.c. injection of
109 PFU of UV-inactivated Ad0 in CFA) or 3 days
before footpad antigenic challenge. Mice were challenged on day 8 in
one footpad with 10 µl of 109 PFU of
UV-inactivated Ad0 and in the contralateral footpad with 10 µl of
vehicle alone. DTH responses were assessed at 24 h (because by
48 h the response was minimal), and the resulting mean paw
swelling ± SEM for both protocols are shown in Fig. 5
. By this protocol of sensitization a
strong DTH response was achieved to the adenoviral proteins.
Interestingly, 109 PFU of AdIL-10 administered
before the sensitization phase of DTH induction suppressed the response
(Fig. 5
A), whereas its administration between the induction
and the elicitation phases did not alter it (Fig. 5
B).
Experimentally, DTH reactions are generated by sensitization to a
foreign Ag that is presented by specialized resident APCs (Langerhans
cells) to naive lymphocytes, resulting in Ag-specific
CD4+ T cell activation, expansion, and
differentiation. In the second phase, or challenge, the same Ag is
introduced at a peripheral site where different APCs are believed to
present it to an expanded population of circulating memory
CD4+ T cells, which then mediate DTH by secreting
proinflammatory cytokines, namely IL-2, IFN-
, and TNF-
. These
results suggest that IL-10 exerts its anti-inflammatory activity by
blocking the induction of Ag-specific CD4+ T
cells when they undergo initial priming. Once an expanded population of
memory cells is present, IL-10 is no longer suppressive, probably
because a different mechanism of memory cell reactivation or Ag
presentation or different APCs are subsequently involved.
|
| Discussion |
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. This was statistically significant only when
lymph node cells were restimulated in vitro with the relevant Ag CII,
which requires proper processing and Ag presentation by APCs, but not
when a polyclonal T cell activator such as soluble anti-CD3 was
added to the cell culture (see Fig. 3
However, IL-10 has also been shown to down-regulate a number of
proinflammatory and proarthritic macrophage functions, including the
production of IL-1, IL-6, TNF-
, GM-CSF, and G-CSF, as well as the
generation of reactive oxygen intermediates, which are all effector
molecules involved in the induction and/or progression of experimental
arthritis, and this could help account for the prolonged and
significant inhibition of disease progression observed in our study.
IL-10 has been shown to down-regulate the constitutive and inducible
expression of MHC class II Ags on human monocytes (44),
but other investigators have shown that in the mouse IL-10 has no
effect on the induction of MHC class II expression, but selectively
inhibits the induction of B7 expression on murine macrophages
(49). We have previously shown that prolonged protein or
adenovirus-mediated gene delivery of a CTLA4-Ig fusion protein,
blocking CD80 (B7-1) and CD86 (B7-2) molecules on APC, thus inhibiting
the costimulatory signal required for a proper T lymphocyte activation,
also suppresses established murine CIA (40, 50). Reduction
of specific cell-mediated and humoral immune responses to type II
collagen was demonstrated even when CTLA4-Ig treatment was administered
during the late phase of the immune response, i.e., after the onset of
clinical symptoms (40). Thus, another mechanism by which
IL-10 contributes to the therapeutic effect in autoimmune arthritis
could be due to the down-regulation of B7 expression on activated
macrophages. Ding and colleagues (51) have also
demonstrated in vitro that the ability of mouse IL-10 to inhibit murine
APC function is only observed when cells from the macrophage lineage
are used for Ag presentation, as IL-10 failed to inhibit T cell
activation when activated mouse B cells, B cell tumor cells, dendritic
cells, or fibroblasts were used as APCs. In our study the humoral
branch of the immune response, the anti-CII Ab response in
particular, was not affected even by prolonged IL-10 treatment,
confirming previous observations by our group when mIL-10 protein was
injected daily for 10 days in established CIA. This could be explained
by the diverse interplay of immunosuppressive as well as
immunostimulatory functions possessed by IL-10. It is known to be a
potent stimulator of mouse B lymphocytes, and it augments B cell
differentiation and Ig production (13, 14, 16, 18), but
during an ongoing immune response in vivo, T cell help is also needed
for B cell activation, and here we show that IL-10 significantly
reduces specific T cell activation (Fig. 3
A). In two
previous reports of CIA gene therapy using the EBV IL-10 homologue,
anti-CII Ab responses were also unaffected (34, 41) by
treatment, whereas an earlier report (8) of continuous
IL-10 delivery to treat rat CIA using mini-osmotic pumps showed
reduction of anti-CII Abs upon systemic IL-10 delivery, but
surprisingly higher serum levels when IL-10 was administered locally in
the rear paws. Thus, the complexity of IL-10 biological effects makes
it difficult to unravel its therapeutic potential in the universe of
immune-mediated diseases unless experiments on the relevant animal
model are performed, as in vitro assays to assess T or B lymphocyte
activity do not necessarily monitor the same cells that mediate disease
or consider the influences of regulatory events that may influence in
vivo lymphocyte function.
The use of m IL-10 in our study, instead of the EBV homologue previously used in other gene therapy reports (33, 34, 35, 36), has allowed us to specifically address the question of what effects persistently elevated circulating serum levels of homologous IL-10 would have in vivo and, more importantly, when administered at a late stage of an immune-mediated inflammatory response, i.e., after disease onset. The results obtained here are in contrast to those of previous studies that were studying prevention (treatment before disease onset) rather than postonset therapy of CIA in most cases, in which IL-10 was not therapeutic (34, 41).
It has been demonstrated that the human adenovirus used to construct
the adenoviral vectors is hepatotropic when administered i.v.
(28), with expression of the transgene carried by such
vectors taking place predominantly in the liver (29, 30).
Even if the recombinant constructs currently in use lack E1a and E1b
early transcriptional regions, newly synthesized adenoviral proteins
are nonetheless expressed on the surface of transduced cells, leading
to the generation of specific cellular immune responses and ultimately
inflammation (31, 45, 46). MHC class I-restricted
CD8+ cytolytic T cell responses toward
adenovirally transduced hepatocytes have been reported
(32), and as IL-10 has also been described as a
chemoattractant factor for CD8+ T cells
(19), we have further investigated the effects of virally
delivered homologous IL-10 on adenovirus-induced hepatic inflammation.
Our results show that adenovirus-induced liver inflammation is clearly
dependent on adenovirus dose, but is not nearly as severe as the
hepatitis induced by hepatitis viruses. Hence, a new scoring system
more suitable to the milder degree of inflammation had to be devised.
An obvious hepatitis was observed only when 1010
PFU of the empty vector Ad0 was administered i.v. to assess the highest
degree of liver inflammation achievable in this animal system (see
Table I
), whereas administration of 109 PFU of
the empty vector resulted in mild inflammation, and the effect of same
dose of the AdIL-10 was almost comparable to that in naive
controls (see Table II
). Our data thus show that IL-10 is also able to
reduce hepatic inflammation, and hence delivery of
immunosuppressive/anti-inflammatory agents protects against the
potential proinflammatory effect of adenoviruses when administered
i.v.
Cell-mediated immune responses to viral Ags, depending on the site and the degree of cell infection achieved by adenoviral vectors, may cause adverse effects, in general, on a specific target organ (45, 47). Hence, we also evaluated in the present study DTH responses to the adenovirus. We first sensitized the animals with the UV-inactivated empty virus Ad0 at increasing doses; only with the highest sensitizing dose of 109 PFU was a mild edematous response observed. We subsequently administered the virus emulsified in CFA to amplify the immune response, as reported in standard protocols for eliciting DTH responses to proteins (48), and then addressed the question of whether adenovirus-delivered IL-10 could affect this response. We found that it could only inhibit DTH when injected before the sensitization phase, not when administered before antigenic challenge. These results suggest that IL-10 exerts its anti-inflammatory activity by blocking priming, i.e., the induction of Ag-specific CD4+ T-cells; once an expanded population of memory cells is present, IL-10 is no longer suppressive, probably because a different mechanism of memory cell reactivation or Ag presentation or different APCs are then involved. An alternative interpretation is that if AdIL-10 is administered halfway through the response, there is not enough time for the IL-10 to manifest its effects on an already initiated immune response.
In conclusion, our findings support the therapeutic role of homologous IL-10 in immune-mediated inflammatory disease states, and in arthritis in particular, and highlight the requirement for further comprehensive safety studies of adenovirus-mediated gene therapy. This holds considerable promise, but its potential for human therapy still remains to be understood.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Prof. Marc Feldmann, Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology Division, Imperial College School of Medicine, 1 Aspenlea Road Hammersmith, London, U.K. W6 8LH. ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: RA, rheumatoid arthritis; CIA, collagen-induced arthritis; AdIL-10, mouse IL-10 adenovirus; Ad0, empty adenoviral vector; CII, collagen type II; DTH, delayed-type hypersensitivity; mIL-10, murine IL-10. ![]()
Received for publication November 13, 2000. Accepted for publication March 2, 2001.
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R surface expression and cytotoxic activity: distinct regulation of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity by IFN-
, IL-4, and IL-10. J. Immunol. 149:4048.[Abstract]
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