Attenuation of murine antigen-induced arthritis by treatment with a decoy oligodeoxynucleotide inhibiting signal transducer and activator of transcription-1 (STAT-1).

The transcription factor STAT-1 (signal transducer and activator of transcription-1) plays a pivotal role in the expression of inflammatory gene products involved in the pathogenesis of arthritis such as various cytokines and the CD40/CD40 ligand (CD40/CD40L) receptor-ligand dyad. The therapeutic efficacy of a synthetic decoy oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) binding and neutralizing STAT-1 was tested in murine antigen-induced arthritis (AIA) as a model for human rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The STAT-1 decoy ODN was injected intra-articularly in methylated bovine serum albumin (mBSA)-immunized mice 4 h before arthritis induction.