title: B cell depletion delays collagen-induced arthritis in mice: arthritis induction requires synergy between humoral and cell-mediated immunity.
abstract: Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic autoimmune disease. B cells are likely to play a critical role in arthritis pathogenesis, although it is unclear whether they are necessary for disease induction, autoantibody production, or disease progression. To assess the role of B cells in inflammatory arthritis, B cells were depleted using mouse anti-mouse CD20 mAbs in a mouse model of collagen-induced arthritis. CD20 mAbs effectively depleted mature B cells from adult DBA-1 mice. When B cells were depleted using CD20 mAbs before collagen immunization, there was a delay in disease onset and autoantibody production, with significantly diminished severity of arthritis both clinically and histologically. B cell depletion further delayed disease onset if initiated before, as well as after, collagen immunization. However, in both cases, the eventual reappearance of peripheral B cells triggered autoantibody production and the subsequent development of arthritis in collagen-sensitized mice. By contrast, B cell depletion after collagen immunizations did not have a significant effect on arthritis progression or severity. Thus, disease symptoms were only induced when peripheral B cells and their autoantibody products were present in collagen-immunized mice, documenting a critical role for B cells during the elicitation phase of collagen-induced arthritis. These studies suggest that B cell depletion strategies will be most effective when initiated early in the development of inflammatory arthritis, with sustained B cell depletion required to inhibit the production of isotype-switched pathogenic Abs and the evolution of joint inflammation and destruction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yanaba
authors.forename: Yasuhito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hamaguchi
authors.forename: Guglielmo M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Venturi
authors.forename: Douglas A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Steeber
authors.forename: E William
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: St Clair
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Tedder
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D000917:Antibody Formation; D018951:Antigens, CD20 / Q000276:immunology; D001169:Arthritis, Experimental / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D008212:Lymphocyte Depletion; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D018951:Antigens, CD20; D001323:Autoantibodies