Background/Purpose:

Treatment with helminthes and ova from helminthes, improved clinical findings of several autoimmune diseases in patients and in animal models. We aimed to decipher the tolerogenic potential of Tuftsin- Phosphorylcholine (TPC), a helminth based compound in collagen induced arthritis (CIA) a mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods:

CIA DBA mice were treated with TPC, subcutaneously (5 µg/0.1 ml) or orally (250 µg/0.1 ml), starting 3 days before disease induction. The control groups were treated with PBS. Collagen antibodies were tested by ELISA, cytokines protein levels by DuoSet ELISA and T and B-regulatory cells phenotypes by FACS.

Results:

TPC treated mice had a significantly lower arthritis score 1.5 with comparison to the control mice 11.8 (p<0.0001) in both the subcutaneous and orally treated groups at Day 31. Moreover, histology analysis demonstrated highly inflamed joints in the CIA DBA mice, whereas the TPC treated mice maintained normal joint structure.  Moreover, TPC decreased the titers of circulating collagen II antibodies in the sera of the mice (p<0.0001) as well as enhanced the expression of IL-10 (p < 0.001), and inhibited the production of TNFα, IL-17 and IL-1β (p < 0.0001). TPC significantly expanded the CD4‏+CD25+‏FOXP3+‏ T-regulatory (Treg) cells and CD19+IL-10^high+CD5^highCD1d^highTIM-1⁺ B-regulatory (Breg) cells phenotypes (p < 0.0001) in the treated mice.

Conclusion:

Our data indicate that treatment with TPC attenuate CIA development in DBA mice which was exemplified by a low arthritic score, normal joints histology, reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines and increased anti-inflammatory cytokine expression, as well as expansion of Treg and Breg cells. Our results may lead to a new approach for a natural therapy for early RA patients.

« Back to 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/novel-therapeutic-compound-tuftsin-phosphorylcholine-attenuate-collagen-induced-arthritis/