Nasal administration of arthritis-related T cell epitopes of heat shock protein 60 as a promising way for immunotherapy in chronic arthritis.

Adjuvant Arthritis (AA) can be induced in Lewis rats by immunisation with mycobacterial antigens. The disease can be passively transferred with T cell clone A2b, which recognises the 180–188 amino acid sequence in mycobacterial heat shock protein 60 (hsp60) and which crossreacts with crude cartilage proteoglycans. We succeeded to induce peripheral tolerance to this AA-associated T cell epitope following nasal administration of a peptide containing this epitope (mycobacterial hsp60 176–190). In rats treated nasally with 176–190 and immunised with mycobacterial hsp60, proliferative responses to 176–190 were reduced. AA was inhibited nasally with 176–190 treated rats and not in rats nasally treated with a control mycobacterial hsp60 peptide (211–225). Moreover, nasal 176–190 led to similar arthritis protective effects in a non-microbially induced experimental arthritis (avridine induced arthritis).