Effect of taurine chloramine,the product of activated neutrophils,on the development of collagen-induced arthritis in DBA 1/J mice

Summary.  Taurine chloramine (TauCl), a product of neutrophil myeloperoxidase – halide system, formed by a reaction of taurine with HOCl, is known as an anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory long-lived oxidant. We previously reported that TauCl inhibits in vitro the production of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-8) by RA synoviocytes. Therefore we performed this study to investigate the effect of TauCl treatment on the development of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in DBA1/J mice. Early administration of TauCl (after primary immunization) resulted in the delay of the onset of CIA, but had no effect on severity of arthritis. TauCl, given daily for 21 days after booster immunization, did not reduce the symptoms of arthritis in those mice, which already developed CIA, but significantly diminished incidence of the disease (55% vs. 90% of placebo mice). The mechanism of this effect is unknown. This is the first in vivo study suggesting that TauCl may be used for immune intervention in chronic inflammatory diseases. Received November 30, 2001 Accepted January 25, 2002 Published online August 20, 2002 Acknowledgments We express our gratitude to K. Szewczyk for skillful technical assistance. This work was supported by grants from the Committee of Scientific Research (Warsaw, Poland) Grant No. 4PO5B01018, and partially by Grant No.: PO 5A 10419. Authors' address: Janusz Marcinkiewicz, Ph.D., M.D., Department of Immunology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 18 Czysta St., 31-121 Kraków, Poland, E-mail: mmmarcin@cyf-kr.edu.pl