Resistance to collagen-induced arthritis in Biozzi mice is not associated with a defect in autoantibodies to accessible epitopes on cartilage collagen.

In order to understand why most strains of Biozzi mice are unexpectedly either arthritis-resistant, or susceptible, we investigate the autoantibody reactivity against matrix-embedded collagen molecules. We show a close correlation between these tissular and the free collagen antibodies, irrespective of arthritis susceptibility. These results are against an antibody response restricted to hidden non-pathogenic epitopes in the resistant mice.