Inhibition of the development of spontaneous autoimmune thyroiditis in the obese strain (OS) chickens by in vivo treatment with anti-CD4 or anti-CD8 antibodies

The involvement of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells in pathogenesis of spontaneous autoimmune thyroiditis (SAT) in obese strain (OS) chickens has not been studied in depth until now. We depleted CD4(+) or CD8(+) T cells in OS chickens by treatment with murine monoclonal anti-CD4 or anti-CD8 antibodies at 3 day intervals beginning at hatching. The birds were killed at 19-25 days of age. Treatment with anti-CD4 antibody completely prevented SAT development, while treatment with anti-CD8 antibody partially inhibited SAT. These results show the critical role of CD4(+) T cells in the development of SAT in OS chickens, and indicate that CD8(+) T cells are also involved in SAT pathogenesis. (C) 1998 Academic Press Limited.