Curing BB rats of freshly manifested diabetes by short-term treatment with a combination of a monoclonal anti-interleukin 2 receptor antibody and a subtherapeutic dose of cyclosporin A.

The BioBreeding (BB) rat develops spontaneously a syndrome resembling human type I diabetes mellitus. The short-term treatment of newly diagnosed diabetic BB rats with the anti-interleukin 2 receptor (IL 2R) monoclonal antibody ART-18 in combination with a subtherapeutic dose of cyclosporin A for 10 days, a treatment shown previously to eliminate specifically antigen-activated IL2R+ T lymphocytes by sparing suppressor cells, resulted in normoglycemia in 70% of the animals, the maintenance of B cell volume density and an increase in pancreatic insulin content. Moreover, the glucose tolerance of successfully treated animals was not significantly different from that of normoglycemic BB rats during the whole observation period (up to 120 days after the end of the therapy). This is the first report on successful treatment of a spontaneous autoimmune disease by a short-term and specific immunosuppressive regimen with limited side effects.