Effective treatment of mice with type II collagen induced arthritis with lethal irradiation and bone marrow transplantation.

We examined the effects of irradiation followed by bone marrow transplantation (BMT) on type II collagen induced arthritis (CIA) in mice. Either before or after the onset of arthritis, the mice were irradiated at levels lethal to cells, then given bone marrow cells from normal syngeneic or allogeneic mice. The BMT, especially allogeneic BMT, blocked the induction of CIA when administered before the onset of arthritis. When administered after CIA had begun, progression of the arthritis was significantly suppressed by allogeneic BMT.