Parasite-mediated down-regulation of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in DA rats

Microbial infection can impact on the course of autoimmune disease, both in disease-inducing and disease-protecting capacities. Here we investigated if infection with Trypanosoma brucei brucei (Tbb), the protozoan causative agent of African Sleeping Sickness, could ameliorate the course of CIA in the Dark Agouti rat, an experimental model which shares many features with human rheumatoid arthritis. Infection of animals with living, but not inoculation with dead Tbb resulted in complete or significant reduction of clinical arthritic symptoms. Infection prior to collagen immunization was more effective than a later treatment, and this effect was related to the level of parasitaemia. Using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction we detected an increase in interferon-gamma mRNA in the draining lymph nodes of Tbb-treated animals relative to controls at day 28 after disease induction. Transforming growth factor-beta could be detected in the lymph nodes in four out of six animals that had received Tbb. In the joints, immunohistochemistry revealed reduced production of tumour necrosis factor-alpha in Tbb-treated animals relative to controls. The most striking difference between Tbb-infected and control groups, as measured by ELISA, was the down-regulation of anti-collagen II IgG antibody responses in parasite-infected animals. We conclude that live parasites can exert an immunomodulatory and protective effect in CIA in which several mechanisms may work in parallel, although the almost complete down-regulation of the anti-collagen antibody response may alone explain the protective effect in CIA. The described model may be useful in further attempts to use the mechanisms involved in parasite immune defence to prevent and treat certain autoimmune conditions.