The death of King Charles XII--the forensic verdict.

King Charles XII of Sweden was killed in 1718 during his siege of the Danish fortress of Fredriksten. For 276 years, it remained an open question whether the lethal bullet came from the enemy or from a Swedish assassin. Now, a treatise published by a Swedish historian finally proves that the King's death was a case of political murder.

Down-regulation of a spontaneous arthritis in male DBA/1 mice after administration of monoclonal anti-idiotypic antibodies to a cross-reactive idiotope on anti-collagen antibodies.

We recently described a spontaneously occurring, inflammatory and erosive joint disease in male DBA/1 mice. A major question is whether specific immune reactions are involved in eliciting this disease. The possibility that collagen autoimmunity might constitute one pathogenic factor was particularly interesting as this spontaneous arthritis appears to be genetically restricted in a way similar to collagen-induced arthritis.

Characterization of a spontaneously occurring arthritis in male DBA/1 mice.

Objective: We studied the incidence, severity, histopathologic features, and status of infection in a spontaneous polyarthritis which occurs in male DBA/1 mice.

Methods: Over a 25-week period, the arthritis was evaluated macroscopically in naive mice of different strains. The histopathology was evaluated at different phases of the disease.

A monoclonal antiidiotypic antibody with rheumatoid factor activity defines a cross-reactive idiotope on murine anticollagen antibodies.

A syngeneic antiidiotypic mAb, C1C3, was characterized as to its binding to monoclonal anti-collagen II (-CII) auto-antibodies reactive with different epitopes of the native CII molecule. Both by direct binding and by inhibition ELISA studies, the anti-idiotypic antibody was shown to react with a cross-reactive idiotope present on Fab fragments of most, but not all, tested anti-CII mAb, whereas the binding to Fab fragments from normal mouse IgG was low. As previously described, C1C3 bound to isolated Fc fragments from normal mouse IgG.

Down-regulation of collagen arthritis after in vivo treatment with a syngeneic monoclonal anti-idiotypic antibody to a cross-reactive idiotope on collagen II auto-antibodies.

Monoclonal anti-idiotypic antibodies previously shown to react with a cross-reactive idiotope of anti-collagen II auto-antibodies were used for in vivo treatment of DBA/1 mice receiving immunization with arthritogenic native rat collagen type II. Injection of 100 micrograms of the anti-idiotypic antibody 3 weeks before the collagen immunization resulted in a significant suppression of collagen arthritis, compared with mice treated with a monoclonal control antibody. The treatment with anti-idiotypic antibody 3 weeks before collagen immunization could also cause a marked down-regulation of the total serum levels of anti-collagen II antibodies.