Figure 5

Adjuvant arthritis is modulated by treatment with anti-CD134 5'-fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine dipalmitate (FUdR-dP) liposomes. (a) Rats were immunized with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mt) to induce arthritis. On days 3 and 7, rats received isotype control FUdR-dP liposomes (filled triangles), anti-CD134-FUdR-dP liposomes (filled circles), or empty anti-CD134 liposomes (open circles) subcutaneously (s.c.) in both hind paws. (b) Alternatively, after immunization with Mt, on days 3 and 7 rats received anti-CD134-FUdR-dP liposomes (filled circles) or empty bare liposomes (open diamonds), or on days 3, 7, and 10 anti-CD134-FUdR-dP liposomes (filled squares), s.c. in both hind paws. Rats were followed for the development of clinical disease and body weight until the disease resolved spontaneously (day 37 to 42). Results are expressed as the arthritis score and the mean body weight (percentage of day 0) per group of n = 5 rats and are presented as means ± SEM. Statistical differences are indicated in the plots. (c) On day 42, rats shown in (a) were killed; popliteal lymph node cells were isolated and pooled from each treatment group. Cells from isotype control FUdR-dP liposome-treated rats (white bars), anti-CD134-FUdR-dP liposome-treated rats (black bars), and empty anti-CD134 liposome-treated rats (hatched bars) were tested for their proliferative response to 20 μg/ml Mt HSP60_176–190 peptide (in which HSP60 stands for heat shock protein 60) in a [³H]thymidine incorporation assay. The proliferation to 20 μg/ml peptide OVA_323–339 is shown as a negative control. Results are expressed as the mean SI for quadruple wells. The cut-off value for proliferation was set at SI 2 (indicated by line).