Analog peptides of type II collagen can suppress arthritis in HLA-DR4 (DRB1*0401) transgenic mice

Table 1 DR4 T-cell response to analog peptides after immunization with type II collagen (CII)

Peptide	Sequence^{a 263 266}	IFN-γ (pg/ml)	IL-10 (pg/ml)	IL-4 (pg/ml)
Wild type	G-E-B-G-I-A-G-F-K-G-E-Q-G-P-K-G-E-B-G-P-A	1,575 ± 20	570 ± 8	12 ± 3
A9	- - - - A B - N - - - - - - - - - - - - -	350 ± 11	580 ± 11	33 ± 12
A12	- - - - - - - N - - D - - - - - - - - - -	175 ± 7	610 ± 7	48 ± 15
A13	- - - - - - - N - - A - - - - - - - - - -	<1	575 ± 9	66 ± 10
263N	- - - - - - - N - - - - - - - - - - - - -	263 ± 13	560 ± 13	9 ± 9
266A	- - - - - - - - - - A - - - - - - - - - -	<1	590 ± 10	6 ± 9
266D	- - - - - - - - - - D - - - - - - - - - -	175 ± 6	600 ± 12	9 ± 5

Pooled splenocytes and lymph node cells (5 × 10⁶ cells/ml) from DR4 mice immunized with CII 10 to 14 days previously were cultured with 100 μg/ml antigen (synthetic peptides). Each experiment included cells from three mice and was performed three times. Supernatants were collected and assayed for IFN-γ, IL-4, and IL-10. Values are means ± SD. Numbers in bold type indicate values greater than fivefold those of wild-type peptide. The cytokine response to wild-type peptide included primarily IFN-γ and IL-10. In contrast, the analog peptides A12 and A13 induced the production of predominantly IL-4 and IL-10.

ISSN: 1478-6362