Humanized mice as a model for rheumatoid arthritis.
Genetic susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a common autoimmune disease, is associated with certain HLA-DR4 alleles. Treatments are rarely curative and are often tied to major side effects. We describe the development of a humanized mouse model wherein new, less toxic, vaccine-like treatments for RA might be pretested. This model includes four separate transgenes: HLA-DR*0401 and human CD4 molecules, a RA-related human autoantigenic protein (HCgp-39), and a T-cell receptor (TCRalphabeta) transgene specific for an important HCgp-39 epitope, eliciting strong Th1 responses in the context of HLA-DR*0401.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, California 94305, USA.
Rüdiger
R
Eming
Kevin
K
Visconti
Frances
F
Hall
Chiyoko
C
Sekine
Kayta
K
Kobayashi
Qun
Q
Chen
Andrew
A
Cope
Satoshi
S
Kanazawa
Matija
M
Peterlin
Antonius
A
Rijnders
Annemieke
A
Boots
Jan
J
Meijerink
Grete
G
Sønderstrup
D000818:Animals; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic