Suppression of experimental antigen-induced arthritis in transgenic mice producing human alpha-fetoprotein.

Experimental arthritis was induced in the knee joint of transgenic mice expressing human alpha-fetoprotein by immunization with methylated bovine serum albumin in Freund's complete adjuvant. In the control experiment with normal C57BL/6 mice, definite arthritis was observed in 55.6% (5/9) of the mice, but in only 21.1% (4/19) of the transgenic mice. This result suggested that human alpha-fetoprotein functioned as an immunosuppressant to ameliorate the development of the immune disease.