Immunoglobulins from rats that are resistant to adjuvant arthritis suppress the disease in arthritis-susceptible rats.

The therapeutic effect of high doses of polyclonal immunoglobulins has been well established in various B cell-associated autoimmune diseases. In the present work we have examined the effect of low doses of immunoglobulins in adjuvant arthritis, a T cell-associated disease in the Lewis rat. Lewis rats were treated with purified rat immunoglobulins as well as their Fc and F(ab')2 fragments and their protective effect on adjuvant arthritis was evaluated. We found that early as well as late treatment with low doses of rat immunoglobulins induced refractoriness to disease induction. The effect was found to be carried out by the F(ab')2 part of the immunoglobulins and could be adsorbed by affinity purification on Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The protective antibodies were present in Fisher and BN rats that are resistant to adjuvant arthritis, but not in the arthritis susceptible Lewis and Wistar strains. We suggest that resistance to autoimmune arthritis is associated with the presence of protective immunoglobulins and that their effect is carried out through the antigen recognition part of the molecule.