The collagen antibody-induced arthritis (CAIA) model was used for investigating if blockade of peripheral HMGB1 attenuates pain-like behavior in a sex-dependent fashion. Both male and female CAIA mice revealed high HMGB1 mRNA levels in the ankle joints. Administering HMGB1 neutralizing antibodies failed to reduce arthritis severity in both male and female mice; however, it did significantly reverse CAIA-induced mechanical hypersensitivity in male mice. In addition, the differences in responses between sexes were evaluated by measuring cytokine levels (TNF, IL-6, CXCL1 and CXCL2) from cultured macrophages treated with HMGB1 and cytokine mRNA levels (TNF, IL-1b, IL-6, CCL2, CXCL1, and CXCL2) in paws which received HMGB1.
Read More