Research Article

Suppression of Th1 and Th17 Responses and Induction of Treg Responses by IL-18-Expressing Plasmid Gene Combined with IL-4 on Collagen-Induced Arthritis

Figure 2

Effect of various vectors on the mean arthritis macroscopic score of CIA mice. DBA/1 mice were immunized with type II collagen on day 0 and day 21. On day 28, mice were treated with PBS, 10 μg of control vector, 10 μg of vector + 0.1 μg rIL-4, 0.1 μg of rIL-4, or 10 μg of pIL-18 + 0.1 μg rIL-4. A booster treatment was given with the same dosage after two weeks. Each point represents the mean ± SD of ten mice. Mean arthritis macroscopic scores of mice treated with pIL-18 + rIL4 were significantly lower than the control from day 44 onwards. versus control by Wilcoxon rank test.