Tumour necrosis factor receptor gene therapy affects cellular immune responses in collagen induced arthritis in mice

Background: Collagen induced arthritis (CIA) is an animal model of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) amenable to immunotherapy directed against tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα). Objective: To evaluate whether local TNF receptor (TNF-R) gene therapy in DBA/1 mice exerts an influence beyond anti-inflammatory effects. Two measures of CIA pathogenesis were investigated- namely, immunity to collagen II (CII) 245-270 peptide (the major immunodominant epitope within bovine CII) and the preferential activation of T cell Vβ8.2 variable region receptors in arthritic DBA/1 mice. Methods: DBA/1 mice received single periarticular injections of media or retroviral vectors containing LacZ or human TNF-R into affected arthritic paws at disease onset. Disease severity was monitored, immune responses towards the immunodominant bovine CII 245-270 and subdominant CII 334-360 peptide epitopes were assessed by ELISA, and T cell Vβ usage was analysed by real time polymerase chain reaction for the LacZ transduced, TNF-R, and viral-free media treated control animals. The therapeutic influence of TNF-R gene transduction was compared with other groups at different times after treatment. Results: Reduced disease severity was seen 15-35 days after treatment, with a concomitant increase in immunity towards the subdominant CII 334-300 peptide epitope rather than the immunodominant CII 245-270 peptide in TNF-R treated animals. Early in the disease, TNF-R treated animals demonstrated a reduction of bias towards the otherwise predominant Vβ8.2 T cell subset. Conclusions: TNF-R gene therapy influences cellular immunity in CIA, leading to overall disease amelioration, thus suggesting that TNF inhibition may have therapeutic potential beyond the control of inflammation in RA.