Siglec-G Deficiency Leads to More Severe Collagen-Induced Arthritis and Earlier Onset of Lupus-like Symptoms in MRL/lpr Mice

Siglec-G is a member of the sialic acid-binding Ig-like lectin (Siglec) family expressed on all B cells. Siglec-G-deficient mice show a large expansion of the B1 cell compartment, demonstrating the crucial role of Siglec-G as an inhibitory receptor on this cellular subset. Although Siglec-G-deficient mice did not develop spontaneous autoimmunity, mice double-deficient for Siglec-G and the related Siglec protein CD22 did show autoimmunity at an older age. In this study, we addressed the question of whether loss of Siglec G on its own affects disease severity in animal models of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Siglec-G-deficient mice showed moderately increased clinical severity and higher inflammation of the knee joints following collagen-induced arthritis, when compared with control mice. The Siglec-G-deficient mouse was also backcrossed to the autoimmune prone MLR/lpr background. Although both Siglec-G-deficient and control MRL/lpr mice developed a lupus-like disease, Siglec-G-deficient MRL/lpr mice showed an earlier occurrence of autoantibodies; a higher lymphoproliferation of B and T cells; and an earlier onset of disease, as shown by proteinuria and glomerular damage in the kidney. Moreover, Siglec-G-deficient female mice showed a significantly reduced survival compared with female control MRL/lpr mice. Thus, the loss of the inhibitory receptor Siglec-G led to a moderate exacerbation of disease severity and early onset in both collagen-induced arthritis and spontaneous lupus nephritis in MRL/lpr mice.