T cell regulation of collagen-induced arthritis in mice. II. Immunomodulation of arthritis by cytotoxic T cell hybridomas specific for type II collagen.

Injection of native type II collagen (CII) to susceptible strains of mice (H-2q) induces a rheumatoid arthritis-like disease. To study the role of CD8+ T cells in the collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), we generated CII-specific T cell hybridomas by fusion of cells from arthritic C3H. Q mice and an AKR thymoma. Two hybrid clones (P3G8 and P2D9) were selected for their ability to lyse syngeneic CII-pulsed macrophages and recognize different antigenic epitopes in association with Kq molecules. When these T cell clones were irradiated and inoculated into (C3H.Q x AKR)F1 mice 21 days prior to priming with native CII/complete Freund's adjuvant, the incidence and the duration of CIA were significantly reduced in comparison to groups receiving saline or control T cell hybridoma. Furthermore, both anti-CII T cell hybridomas were able to attenuate CIA in highly susceptible inbred strains of mice and this suppression was antigen and disease specific. The protective activity seems to require intact cells as neither membrane fractions nor cytosolic preparations of the hybridoma T cells retained the vaccinating activity. Most importantly, one of the hybrid clones (P3G8) had a therapeutic effect on CIA since its administration to arthritic DBA/1 mice on day 30 after priming down-regulated the ongoing disease. Taken together, these findings suggest that anti-CII cytotoxic T cell clones can vaccinate against CIA and even reverse the disease.