Figure 5

Beneficial effects of PIP-18 on disease outcome. Intraperitoneal injections commenced at age three weeks and terminated at eight weeks. Body weights were recorded before and weekly after injections. (a) Tg197 mice injected with phospholipase inhibitor from python (PIP)-18 (30 mg/kg) or infliximab (10 mg/kg) significantly (*P < 0.05, vs untreated) gained body weights at eight week. Drugs without effect are not shown. (b) Low dose (10 mg/kg) of peptides shows effect at eight weeks, while the higher dose of PIP-18 (30 mg/kg) or infliximab (10 mg/kg) effectively reduced arthritis score (AS) at six weeks. AS was significantly reduced at eight weeks in the ankle joints of mice treated with 10 mg/kg of P-NT.II or PIP-18 (*P < 0.05 vs untreated), and 30 mg/kg of PIP-18 (**P < 0.01, vs untreated) or 10 mg/kg of infliximab (***P < 0.001, vs untreated). Data are mean ± standard error of the mean of 16 joints per group (One-way analysis of variance with Bonferroni's multiple comparison test).