Figure 5

Anti-murine type XVII collagen antibodies of sheep precipitate the onset and potentiate the outcome of disease. Mice were injected with antibodies to type XVII collagen generated in rabbits (n=10) and sheep (n=10) respectively. After 9–10 days, first lesions appeared in mice transferred with antibodies produced in rabbits. In contrast, mice receiving antibodies generated in sheep presented first lesions after 5–6 days. In addition, at each time-point of the observation period, starting with the day of first lesions appearance, the group injected with pathogenic sheep antibodies had significantly higher disease scores compared to the group injected with pathogenic rabbit anti-mouse collagen BP180/ CXVII antibodies. Groups injected with either control rabbit (n=6) or sheep (n=6) antibodies did not show any clinical lesions throughout the observation period. Means are presented ± s.e.m.; *, significance at p < 0.05 by the chi-square test.