Open AccessThalidomide therapy of established collagen‐induced arthritis (CIA) not accompanied by an evident Th2 shift
Author(s) -
HAUSCHILD A.,
KROEGER H.,
MITCHISON N. A.,
UGRINOVIC S.,
ZWINGENBERGER K.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
clinical & experimental immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.329
H-Index - 135
eISSN - 1365-2249
pISSN - 0009-9104
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2249.1997.3781274.x
Subject(s) - medicine , thalidomide , arthritis , immunology , cytokine , tocilizumab , gastroenterology , rheumatoid arthritis , multiple myeloma
Thalidomide, a drug likely to affect the cytokine pattern, was administered orally to mice at various stages of CIA. Treatment (150mg/kg per day by gavage, 5 days/week), started 6 weeks post‐immunization, i.e. at the height of the disease, significantly reduced arthritis, and appeared also to reduce the level of inflammation as judged by neutrophil chemiluminescence. With treatment started 9 weeks post‐immunization the effect on arthritis was no longer statistically significant, and when started at 14 weeks was lost. Over a dose range of up to 150mg/kg per day the treatment had no effect on either interferon‐gamma (IFN‐γ) or IL‐4 mRNA levels. The treatment is therefore not likely to have operated via a shift in the Th1/Th2 balance.