Abstracts (complete list) - Wissenschaft Online

Alexander Fassold, Werner Falk, Rainer H. Straub
Is neuropilin-2 a possible target for the treatment of arthritis?
Background: Sympathetic neurotransmitters in high concentrations exert antiinflammatory
effects via beta2-adrenergic receptors. Their loss in inflamed tissue
probably aggravates inflammation. Semaphorin 3C and placental growth factor, which
bind to neuropilin-2 (NPN-2), are probably involved in repulsion of sympathetic nerve
fibers (SNF).
Objectives: To study density of SNF using NPN-2 as the antigenic target. To neutralize
ligands to NPN-2 with a self-manufactured NPN-2 Fc fusion construct and to investigate
the effects of inhibition in vitro and in vivo.
Methods: Immunohistochemistry was used to investigate presence of NPN-2 positive
nerve fibers in synovial tissue of 10 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 10 with
osteoarthritis (OA). In order to be able to study the effect of the Fc fusion construct,
sympathetic ganglia of mice were cultured and outgrowth speed analysed. The NPN-2
Fc-fusion construct was tested in vivo in collagen type II-induced arthritis in DBA/1
mice.
Results: In patients with RA compared to OA, density of NPN-2– positive nerve fibers
was decreased (p