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Updated: Jun 22, 2026
An Adoptive Transfer Model of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Mice
Published on: June 6, 2025
Age-related changes in arthritis susceptibility and severity in a murine model of rheumatoid arthritis
Oktavia Tarjanyi1, Ferenc Boldizsar1,2, Peter Nemeth2
1Section of Molecular Medicine, Departments of Orthopedic Surgery, Biochemistry and Internal Medicine (Rheumatology), Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA.
Background:
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) most often begins in females in the fourth-fifth decade of their life, suggesting that the aging of the immune system (immunosenescence) has a major role in this disease. Therefore, in the present study, we sought to investigate the effect of age on arthritis susceptibility in BALB/c mice using the proteoglycan (PG)-induced arthritis (PGIA) model of RA.
Results:
We have found that young, 1-month-old female BALB/c mice are resistant to the induction of PGIA, but with aging they become susceptible. PG-induced T cell responses decline with age, whereas there is a shift toward Th1 cytokines. An age-dependent decrease in T cell number is associated with an increased ratio of the memory phenotype, and lower CD28 expression. Antigen-presenting cells shifted from macrophages and myeloid dendritic cells in young mice toward B cells in older mice. The regulatory/activated T cell ratio decreases in older mice after PG injections indicating impaired regulation of the immune response.
Conclusion:
We conclude that immunosenescence could alter arthritis susceptibility in a very complex manner including both adaptive and innate immunities, and it cannot be determined by a single trait. Cumulative alterations in immunoregulatory functions closely resemble human disease, which makes this systemic autoimmune arthritis model of RA even more valuable.
