Short-term prophylaxis with deoxyspergualin prevents testicular autoimmunity in mice

The effects of the treatment with the immunosuppressant deoxyspergualin on the development of experimental autoimmune orchitis were studied. The results showed that C3H/He mice immunized with testicular germ cells and treated daily with either 0.3 or 3 mg/kg body weight deoxyspergualin during days 15-20 post-immunization developed experimental autoimmune orchitis lesions with a significantly lower incidence and severity than did the control mice treated under the same experimental conditions with phosphate buffered saline (PBS). The effects of deoxyspergualin were clearly dose-dependent, and the higher dose of the drug also markedly reduced the degree of delayed type hypersensitivity responses against testicular germ cells. These data suggest that deoxyspergualin may be worthy of consideration for the prevention/treatment of human immunoinflammatory orchitis. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.