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. 1987 Nov;70(2):372–378.

Oestrogen induced suppression of collagen arthritis: I. Long term oestradiol treatment of DBA/1 mice reduces severity and incidence of arthritis and decreases the anti type II collagen immune response.

R Holmdahl 1, L Jansson 1, B Meyerson 1, L Klareskog 1
PMCID: PMC1542083  PMID: 3501349

Abstract

Experimental animal models can be used to help understand how oestrogen modulates autoimmune arthritis. We have previously shown that castration of female DBA/1 mice exaggerates arthritis induced with type II collagen. This report shows that treatment of castrated DBA/1 mice with low doses (0.2 micrograms twice a week) of beta-oestradiol reduces the incidence (37% vs 78% in controls) and severity (3.9 vs 5.6 mean scores) of arthritis. Levels of IgG anti type II collagen antibodies are decreased whereas levels of IgM antibodies are increased in the beta-oestradiol treated mice. The T cell response, as measured by a 3H-thymidine assay, is reduced in the beta-oestradiol treated mice. The results suggest that treatment with low doses of beta-oestradiol exerts a suppressive effect on both development of collagen arthritis as well as T cell dependent immune reactivity towards type II collagen.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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