International Immunology Advance Access originally published online on September 17, 2009
International Immunology 2009 21(11):1263-1268; doi:10.1093/intimm/dxp092
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Histidine decarboxylase but not histamine receptor 1 or 2 deficiency protects from K/BxN serum-induced arthritis
1 Immunology and Cell Biology, University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, von-Liebig-Strasse 20, D-53359 Rheinbach, Germany
2 The Biomedical Research Centre, University of British Columbia, 2222 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver, BCV6T 1Z3, Canada
3 Department of Molecular Immunology, Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan
4 Graduate School of Engineering, Applied Quantum Medical Engineering, Tohoku University, Aza-Aoba 6-6-01, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan
5 Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Jena, Ziegelmühlenweg 1, D-07740 Jena, Germany
6 Present address: Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Correspondence to: H. Illges; E-mail: harald.illges{at}fh-brs.de
Serum transfer from arthritic K/BxN mice into naive animals results in arthritis. Mast cells have been shown to be essential since mice lacking these cell type do not develop arthritis upon serum injection. Mast cell function depends on the release of granules filled with mediators such as histamine. Mice deficient in histidine decarboxylase (HDC–/–) that do not produce histamine and mice deficient for histamine receptor 1 (H1R–/–) or histamine receptor 2 (H2R–/–) were injected with arthritogenic sera from the K/BxN mice, and the progression of arthritis was observed through the next 2 weeks. HDC–/– mice that are histamine free developed a milder form of arthritis in comparison with the wild-type controls. In both receptor-deficient mice as well as in wild-type controls, the onset and severity of clinical arthritis and ankle thickening occurred during day 1 to 3. These results indicate that histamine is required but not indispensable for the development of serum-induced arthritis and histamine receptors other than those studied here may be involved.
Keywords: histamine receptor, histidine decarboxylase, K/BxN mouse model
Transmitting editor: A. Radbruch
Received 16 April 2009, accepted 19 August 2009.