Protection from collagen-induced arthritis in granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor-deficient mice

Abstract

The involvement of granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF) in collagen- induced arthritis (CIA) was examined using GM-CSF-deficient mice. Although CIA is generally considered to be restricted to mice of the H-2(q) or H-2(r) haplotypes, we examined the role of GM-CSF in the CIA model using GM-CSF- deficient (-/-) and wild-type (+/+) mice on a C57BL/6 (H-2b) background. Mice were immunized by intradermal injection at the base of the tail with chick type II collagen followed by a repeat injection 21 days later. We found, based on both clinical and histologic assessments, that wild-type mice on this background developed severe CIA, while the GM-CSF-deficient mice had virtually no disease. Mice that ..