Figure 5

Analog peptides in IL4^-/- and IL10^-/- mice. Groups of DR1⁺ IL-4^-/- , DR1 IL4^+/+ littermates, DR1 IL10^-/-, and DR1 IL10^+/+ littermate mice were immunized with CII/CFA. Mice were treated with either the A12 peptide or Ova (0.6 mg) subcutaneously in IFA at the time of immunization. The mean severity scores for arthritis are shown at various times after immunization. The DR1 IL4^+/+ mice treated with A12 differ significantly from DR1 IL4^+/+ mice treated with Ova (P < 0.0005 on day 53). Conversely, the DR1 IL4^-/- group treated with A12 did not differ from Ova-treated controls. Data shown are representative of four separate experiments. Similarly, the DR1 IL10^+/+ mice treated with A12 were significantly suppressed when compared with the DR1 IL10^+/+ mice treated with Ova, P < 0.001 on day 53). Although the DR1 IL10^-/- mice had suppression of arthritis compared with Ova-treated controls (P ≤ 0.05), the suppression was not as potent as that obtained with DR1 IL10^+/+ mice. Similarly, the incidence of arthritis was 15% in IL10^+/+ A12-treated mice, which was significantly different from that of OVA-treated IL10^+/+ mice (67%; P = 0.004). Conversely, the A12-treated IL10^-/- mice had an arthritis incidence of 36%, which was not statistically different from the IL10^+/+ Ova-treated mice. Data shown are representative of three separate experiments.