Efefct of long‐term treatment with circulating thymic factor on murine lupus

Abstract

Mice from three different strains (NZB, B/W, and Swan) which spontaneously develop a lupus-like disease and show a premature decline of their secretion of the circulating thymic factor, Facteur Thymique Serique (FTS), were treated repeatedly with FTS and followed for the evolution of their autoimmune disease. The autoimmune sialoadenoitis (Sjogren's syndrome) appearing in NZB and B/W mice, evaluated here by a scintigraphic method, was completely prevented or even cured by FTS treatment. T h e increase in antierythrocyte autoantibody production was transiently delayed in aged NZB mice. Conversely, antiDNA antibody production either remained unaffected or was accelerated (in B/W mice) by FTS treatment. These results demonstrate that the restoration of the failing thymic secretion does influence autoantibody production, in a manner depending primarily on the autoantigen eliciting the autoimmune response. However, caution is urged in the application of this approach to human lupus without further studies.

Thymulin: An Emerging Anti-Inflammatory Molecule

“…Furthermore, the increase in anti-erythrocyte autoantibody production was transiently delayed in aged NZB mice. Conversely, anti-DNA antibody production either remained unaffected or was accelerated (in B/W mice) by FTS treatment, demonstrating that the restoration of the failing thymic secretion does influence autoantibody production, in a manner depending primarily on the auto-antigen eliciting the autoimmune response [6].…”

“…Moreover, in thymectomized mice, FTS restored colony-forming unit by entry into DNA synthesis after T-dependent antigen treatment [31,36]. Restoration of the failing thymic secretion did influence auto-antibody production, in a manner depending primarily on the auto-antigen eliciting the autoimmune response [6,9,82]. In addition, administration of sodium diethyldithiocarbamate (a chelating agent used primarily in the analytical determination of copper, arsenic, nickel and other metals) gave evidence for a role of the thymus, and its hormones, in the control and regulation of factors inducing thymocyte differentiation [52,74].…”

“…For instance, mice from three different strains (NZB, B/W and Swan), which spontaneously develop a lupus-like disease and show a premature decline of their secretion of FTS, were treated repeatedly with FTS and followed for the evolution of their autoimmune disease [6]. The autoimmune sialoadenoitis (Sjogren's syndrome) appearing in NZB and B/W mice was completely prevented or even cured by FTS treatment.…”

Early expression in (NZB × DBA/2)F1 hybrids of thymus dysfunction and abnormal antibody production inherited from the NZB parent

“…On the other hand, the resistance of NZB mice to tolerance induction by heterologous gamma globulins was found to be assigned to a T cell defect [12] that occurred independently of B cell abnormalities [19]. Moreover, thymus grafts and thymic factors were shown to modulate NZB mouse humoral immune responses directed against autoantigens [20,211 or foreign antigens [22] and recent data indicated that in normal mouse strains, an autoimmune disease could be more easily induced by polyclonal B cell activators in thymectomized than in intact animals [23].…”