Antigen specific down regulation of murine collagen induced arthritis: T suppressor cell circuits in arthritis immunotherapy.

The present article summarizes a series of experiments which have been performed to describe an antigen-specific suppressor cell pathway for the suppression of the erythema and edema associated with an animal model of rheumatoid arthritis, collagen induced arthritis (CIA). Initial studies utilized the adoptive transfer of splenic cell subpopulations to establish the presence of suppressor cells in lymphoid tissues of mice which were suppressed for collagen induced arthritis. Subsequent studies generated T cell hybridomas from animals which had been suppressed for collagen induced arthritis by a single injection of a large quantity of Type II collagen. The T cell hybridomas varied in their self surface expression of glycoproteins which are associated with genetically determined functions. The suppressor T cells generated, described a regulatory suppressor cell pathway comprised of at least afferent suppressor T cells and effector suppressor T cells. The cells act in an antigen-specific fashion with regard to the suppression of collagen induced arthritis but appear to be polymorphic in their recognition of the interstitial collagens. The studies, taken together, indicate that the use of antigen specific T suppressor cells in the form of T cell hybridomas can be utilized as a form of immunotherapy in experimental arthritis.