Suppression of collagen-induced arthritis with histone H1

Besides roles in nucleus mediating the condensation of DNA into chromatin, the involvement of histones in autoimmune diseases, hormone regulation, and killing leukemia cells has been reported. In order to investigate the functions of histones on an autoimmune disease, histone H1 was injected into collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mice. A dramatic suppression of CIA by histone H1 was observed at a dose of 1 mg/ kg bodyweight of mouse. In addition, the increased level of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 was detected in cultured splenocytes from the mouse treated with histone H1. These findings suggest that histone H1 suppresses the collagen-induced arthritis, possibly by increasing the level of IL-10 production.