[Therapy with oral type II collagen as a new possibility of selective immunosuppression in therapy of rheumatoid arthritis].

Suppressor T cells in the mucosa of the gut are activated by absorbed antigen in order to avoid a systemic immune response to this antigen. This long known phenomenon of oral tolerance is now used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with oral collagen type II which is the most important protein of cartilage. Although the role of collagen II in initiating and maintaining the immune response in the joint is not clear, these suppressor CD8+T cells can be stimulated in a trigger-specific and effector-nonspecific way by contact with collagen II in the joint. It is assumed that a local immunosuppression then takes place through the secretion of inhibitory cytokines, mainly TGF beta. Clinical studies in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis are presently being conducted in Boston and Berlin.