Patent Application: US-86761297-A

Abstract:
the use of compounds that block complement component or its active fragments c 5 a and / or c 5 b to treat established joint inflammation is disclosed . administration of such c 5 blockers has been found to : 1 ) arrest and / or reduce inflammation in joints which are already inflamed , and 2 ) inhibit the spread of inflammation to unaffected joints .

Description:
as discussed above , the present invention relates to a method for treating established joint inflammation by the administration of a c 5 blocker or a combination of c 5 blockers to a patient in need of such treatment . as used herein , “ established joint inflammation ” means that the patient has at least one inflamed joint at the time treatment is commenced . such c 5 blockers comprise proteins ( including antibodies ), peptides , and other molecules that directly interact with c 5 , c 5 a , and / or c 5 b , so as to inhibit the formation of and / or physiologic function of c 5 a and / or c 5 b . examples of non - protein molecules of this type include k - 76 cooh , ( see hong et al ., 1979 ), and substituted dihydrobenzoturans , spirobenzofuran - 2 ( 3h )- cycloalkanes , and their open chain intermediates , ( see sindelar et al ,, u . s . pat . no . 5 , 173 , 499 ), that are reported to directly interact with c 5 , c 5 a , and / or c 5 b . preferably , the c 5 blocker or blockers inhibit the formation of and / or physiologic function of both c 5 a and c 5 b . the concentration and / or physiologic activity of c 5 a and c 5 b in a body fluid can be measured by methods well known in the art . for c 5 a such methods include chemotaxis assays , rias , or elisas ( see , for example , ward and zviaifler , 1971 ; jose et al ., 1990 ; wurzner et al ., 1991 ). for c 5 b , hemolytic assays or assays for soluble c 5 b - 9 as discussed herein can be used . other assays known in the art can also be used . using assays of these or other suitable types , candidate c 5 blockers , now known or subsequently identified , can be screened in order to 1 ) identify compounds that are useful in the practice of the invention and 2 ) determine the appropriate dosage levels of such compounds . examples 2 , 4 , and 6 - 8 illustrate the use of hemolytic and soluble c 5 b - 9 assays with c 5 blockers comprising monoclonal antibodies . blockers affecting c 5 a are preferably used at concentrations providing substantial reduction ( i . e ., reduction by at least about 25 %) in the c 5 a levels present in at least one blood - derived fluid of the patient , e . g ., blood , plasma , or serum , following activation of complement within the fluid . alternatively , they are used at concentrations providing at least about a 10 % reduction in the c 5 a levels present in the synovial fluid of an inflamed joint . similarly , blockers affecting c 5 b are preferably used at concentrations providing substantial reduction ( i . e ., reduction by at least about 25 %) in the c 5 b levels present in at least one blood - derived fluid of the patient following activation of complement within the fluid . alternatively , they are used at concentrations providing at least about a 10 % reduction in the c 5 b levels present in the synovial fluid of an inflamed joint . in the case of c 5 b , such concentrations can be conveniently determined by measuring the cell - lysing ability ( e . g ., hemolytic activity ) of complement present in the fluid or the levels of soluble c 5 b - 9 present in the fluid ( see , for example , example 6 below ). accordingly , a preferred concentration for a c 5 blocker that affects c 5 b is one that results in a substantial reduction ( i . e ., a reduction by at least about 25 %) in the cell - lysing ability of the complement present in at least one of the patient &# 39 ; s blood - derived fluids . reductions of the cell - lysing ability of complement present in the patient &# 39 ; s body fluids can be measured by methods well known in the art such as , for example , by a conventional hemolytic assay such as the hemolysis assay described by kabat and mayer , 1961 , pages 135 - 139 , or a conventional variation of that assay such as the chicken erythrocyte hemolysis method described below . preferred c 5 blockers are relatively specific , and do not block the functions of early complement components . in particular , such preferred agents will not substantially impair the opsonization functions associated with complement component c 3 b , which functions provide a means for clearance of foreign particles and substances from the body . c 3 b is generated by the cleavage of c 3 , which is carried out by classical and / or alternative c 3 convertases , and results in the generation of both c 3 a and c 3 b . therefore , in order not to impair the opsonization functions associated with c 3 b , preferred c 5 blockers do not substantially interfere with the cleavage of complement component c 3 in a body fluid of the patient ( e . g ., serum ) into c 3 a and c 3 b . such interference with the cleavage of c 3 can be detected by measuring body fluid levels of c 3 a and / or c 3 b , which are produced in equimolar ratios by the actions of the c 3 convertases . such measurements are informative because c 3 a and c 3 b levels will be reduced ( compared to a matched sample without the c 5 blocker ) if cleavage is interfered with by a c 5 blocker . in practice , the quantitative measurement of such cleavage is generally more accurate when carried out by the measurement of body fluid c 3 a levels rather than of body fluid c 3 b levels , since c 3 a remains in the fluid phase whereas c 3 b is rapidly cleared . c 3 a levels in a body fluid can be measured by methods well known in the art such as , for example , by using a commercially available c 3 a eia kit , e . g ., that sold by quidel corporation , san diego , calif ., according to the manufacturers specifications . particularly preferred c 5 blockers produce essentially no reduction in body fluid c 3 a levels following complement activation when tested in such assays . preferred c 5 blocking agents include antibodies . the antibodies are preferably monoclonal , although polyclonal antibodies , which can be produced and screened by conventional techniques , can also be used if desired . hybridomas producing monoclonal antibodies ( mabs ) reactive with complement component c 5 can be obtained using complement component c 5 , c 5 a , and / or c 5 b , preferably in purified form , as the immunogen . the most preferred antibodies will prevent the cleavage of c 5 to form c 5 a and c 5 b , thus preventing the generation of the anaphylatoxic activity associated with c 5 a and preventing the assembly of the membrane attack complex associated with c 5 b . as discussed above , in a particularly preferred embodiment , these c 5 blocking antibodies will not impair the opsonization function associated with the action of c 3 b . general methods for the immunization of animals ( in this case with c 5 , c 5 a , and / or c 5 b ), isolation of antibody producing cells , fusion of such cells with immortal cells ( e . g ., myeloma cells ) to generate hybridomas secreting monoclonal antibodies , screening of hybridoma supernatants for reactivity of secreted monoclonal antibodies with a desired antigen ( in this case the immunogen or a molecule containing the immunogen ), the preparation of quantities of such antibodies in hybridoma supernatants or ascites fluids , and for the purification and storage of such monoclonal antibodies , can be found in numerous publications . these include : coligan , et al ., eds . current protocols in immunology , john wiley & amp ; sons , new york , 1992 ; harlow and lane , antibodies , a laboratory manual . cold spring harbor laboratory , new york , 1988 ; liddell and cryer , a practical guide to monoclonal antibodies , john wiley & amp ; sons , chichester , west sussex , england , 1991 ; montz , et al ., cellular immunol , 127 : 337 - 351 , 1990 ; wurzner , et al ., complement inflamm . 8 : 328 - 340 , 1991 ; and mollnes , et al ., scand . j . immunol . 28 : 307 - 312 , 1988 . a description of the preparation of a mouse anti - human - c 5 monoclonal antibody with preferred binding characteristics is presented below in example 8 . wurzner , et al ., 1991 , describe the preparation of other suitable mouse anti - human - c 5 monoclonal antibodies referred to as n 19 - 8 and n 20 - 9 . as used herein , the terms “ antibody ” or “ antibodies ” refer to immunoglobulins produced in vivo , as well as those produced in vitro by a hybridoma , and antigen binding fragments ( e . g ., fab ′ preparations ) of such immunoglobulins , as well as to recombinantly expressed ( engineered ) antigen binding proteins , including immunoglobulins , chimeric immunoglobulins , “ humanized ” immunoglobulins , antigen binding fragments of such immunoglobulins , single chain antibodies , and other recombinant proteins containing antigen binding domains derived from immunoglobulins . as used herein , the term “ monoclonal ” refers to any antibody that is not of polyclonal origin . publications describing methods for the preparation of engineered antibodies , in addition to those listed immediately above , include : reichmann , et al ., nature , 332 : 323 - 327 , 1988 ; winter and milstein , nature , 349 : 293 - 299 , 1991 ; clackson , et al ., nature , 352 : 624 - 628 , 1991 , morrison , annu rev immunol , 10 : 239 - 265 , 1992 ; haber , immunol rev , 130 : 189 - 212 , 1992 ; and rodrigues , et al ., j immunol , 151 : 6954 - 6961 , 1993 . human or humanized antibodies are preferred for administration to human patients . to achieve the desired reductions of body fluid parameters , such anti - c 5 antibodies can be administered in a variety of unit dosage forms . the dose will vary according to the particular antibody . for example , different antibodies may have different masses and / or affinities , and thus require different dosage levels . antibodies prepared as fab ′ fragments or single chain antibodies will also require differing dosages than the equivalent native immunoglobulins , as they are of considerably smaller mass than native immunoglobulins , and thus require lower dosages to reach the same molar levels in the patient &# 39 ; s blood . dosage levels of the antibodies for human subjects are generally between about 0 . 5 mg per kg and about 100 mg per kg per patient per treatment , and preferably between about 1 mg per kg and about 50 mg per kg per patient per treatment . in terms of body fluid concentrations , the antibody concentrations are preferably in the range from about 5 μg / ml to about 500 μ / ml . other c 5 blockers can also be administered in a variety of unit dosage forms and their dosages will also vary with the size , potency , and in vivo half - life of the particular c 5 blocker being administered . doses of c 5 blockers will also vary depending on the manner of administration , the particular symptoms of the patients being treated , the overall health , condition , size , and age of the patient , and the judgment of the prescribing physician . subject to the judgement of the physician , a typical therapeutic treatment includes a series of doses , which will usually be administered concurrently with the monitoring of clinical endpoints such as number of joints involved , redness of joints , swelling of joints , mobility of joints , pain levels , etc ., with the dosage levels adjusted as needed to achieve the desired clinical outcome . the frequency of administration may also be adjusted according to various parameters . these include the clinical response , the plasma half - life of the c 5 blocker , and the levels of the blocker in a body fluid , such as , blood , plasma , serum , or synovial fluid . to guide adjustment of the frequency of administration , levels of the c 5 blocker in the body fluid may be monitored during the course of treatment . alternatively , for c 5 blockers that affect c 5 b , levels of the cell - lysing ability of complement present in one or more of the patient &# 39 ; s body fluids are monitored to determine if additional doses or higher or lower dosage levels are needed . such doses are administered as required to maintain at least about a 25 % reduction , and preferably about an 50 % or greater reduction of the cell - lysing ability of complement present in blood , plasma , or serum , or at least about a 10 % reduction of the cell - lysing ability of complement present in synovial fluid from an inflamed joint . the cell - lysing ability can be measured as percent hemolysis in hemolytic assays of the types described herein . a 10 % or 25 % or 50 % reduction in the cell - lysing ability of complement present in a body fluid after treatment with the c 5 blocker or blockers used in the practice of the invention means that the percent hemolysis after treatment is 90 , 75 , or 50 percent , respectively , of the percent hemolysis before treatment . in yet another alternative , dosage parameters are adjusted as needed to achieve a substantial reduction of c 5 a levels in blood , plasma , or serum , or at least a 10 % reduction of the c 5 a levels in the synovial fluid of an inflamed joint as discussed above , c 5 a levels can be measured using the techniques described in wurzner , et al ., complement inflamm 8 : 328 - 340 , 1991 . other protocols of administration can , of course , be used if desired as determined by the physician . in a preferred embodiment , administration of the c 5 blocker is initiated when the patient experiences a “ flare up ” of joint inflammation in which one or more affected joints becomes more swollen and takes on an erythematous ( reddened ) appearance . administration of the c 5 blockers will generally be performed by a parenteral route , typically via injection such as intra - articular or intravascular injection ( e . g ., intravenous infusion ) or intramuscular injection . other routes of administration , e . g ., oral ( p . o . ), may be used if desired and practicable for the particular c 5 blocker to be administered . for the treatment of established joint inflammation by systemic administration of a c 5 blocker ( as opposed to local administration , e . g ., intra - articular injection into the inflamed joint ) administration of a large initial dose is preferred , i . e ., a single initial dose sufficient to yield a substantial reduction , and more preferably an at least about 50 % reduction , in the hemolytic activity of the patient &# 39 ; s serum . such a large initial dose is preferably followed by regularly repeated administration of tapered doses as needed to maintain substantial reductions of serum hemolytic titer . in another embodiment , the initial dose is given by both local and systemic routes , followed by repeated systemic administration of tapered doses as described above . formulations suitable for injection , p . o ., and other routes of administration are well known in the art and may be found , for example , in remington &# 39 ; s pharmaceutical sciences , mack publishing company , philadelphia , pa ., 17th ed . ( 1985 ). parenteral formulations must be sterile and non - pyrogenic , and generally will include a pharmaceutically effective carrier , such as saline , buffered ( e . g ., phosphate buffered ) saline , hank &# 39 ; s solution , ringer &# 39 ; s solution , dextrose / saline , glucose solutions , and the like . these formulations may contain pharmaceutically acceptable auxiliary substances as required , such as , tonicity adjusting agents , wetting agents , bactericidal agents , preservatives , stabilizers , and the like . the formulations of the invention can be distributed as articles of manufacture comprising packaging material and a pharmaceutical agent which comprises the c 5 blocker or blockers and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier as appropriate to the mode of administration . the packaging material will include a label which indicates that the formulation is for use in the treatment of joint inflammation and may specifically refer to arthritis , rheumatoid arthritis , osteoarthritis , lupus arthritis , psoriatic arthritis , juvenile onset rheumatoid arthritis , reactive arthritis , reiter &# 39 ; s syndrome ( reiter &# 39 ; s disease ), or other diseases involving joint inflammation . without intending to limit it in any manner , the present invention will be more fully described by the following examples . the methods and materials which are common to various of the examples are as follows . the cell - lysing ability or complement in various body fluid samples was determined using hemolytic assays performed as follows : chicken erythrocytes were washed well in gvbs ( sigma chemical co . st . louis , mo ., catalog no . g - 6514 ) and resuspended to 2 × 10 8 / ml in gvbs . anti - chicken erythrocyte antibody ( igg fraction of anti - chicken - rbc antiserum , intercell technologies , hopewell , n . j .) was added to the cells at a final concentration of 25 μg / ml and the cells were incubated for 15 min . at 23 ° c . the cells were washed 2 × with gvbs and 5 × 10 6 cells were resuspended to 30 μl in gvbs . a 100 μl volume of body fluid test solution was then added to yield a final reaction mixture volume of 130 μl . as used herein , reference to the serum percentage and / or serum input in these assays indicates the percent of a body fluid ( including serum , as well as other body fluids such as blood , plasma , or synovial fluid ) in the 100 μl volume of body fluid test solution . after incubation for 30 min . at 37 ° c ., percent hemolysis was calculated relative to a fully lysed control sample . hemolysis was determined by spinning the cells down and measuring released hemoglobin in the supernatant as the optical density at 41 nm . a 50 % reduction in hemolysis after treatment with the c 5 blocker or blockers used in the practice of the invention means that the percent hemolysis after treatment was one half of the percent hemolysis before treatment . various hemolytic assays described below in the examples were performed using this chicken erythrocyte assay with the following body fluid inputs . for assays of mouse complement activity , the 100 μl volume of body fluid test solution contained 50 μl of diluted ( in gvbs ) mouse serum and 50 μl of human c 5 deficient serum ( quidel corporation , san diego , calif .). for assays of human complement activity , the body fluid test solution contained various concentrations of human plasma or serum , with hybridoma supernatants and / or gvbs being added to yield the final 100 μl volume . for the assays used to screen hybridoma supernatants discussed below in example 8 each 100 μl volume of serum test solution contained 50 μl of hybridoma supernatant and 50 μl of a 10 % solution of human serum in gvbs , yielding a 5 % human serum input . examples 1 , 2 , and 3 use a collagen induced joint inflammation system that has been employed since the 1970s as an animal model of human joint inflammation , particularly ra ( see , for example , trentham et al ., 1977 ; holmdahl et al , 1986 ; boissier et al , 1987 ; yoo et al ., 1988 ). this model system was implemented using 8 - 12 week old male dba / 1lacj mice that were purchased from the jackson laboratory ( bar harbor , me .). bovine collagen ii ( b - cii ) obtained from elastin products company , inc ., owensville , mo ., was dissolved in 0 . 01 m acetic acid by stirring overnight at 4 ° c . at a concentration of 4 mg / ml . complete freund &# 39 ; s adjuvant ( cfa ) was prepared by the addition of desiccated mycobacterium tuberculosis h37ra ( difco , detroit , mich .) to incomplete freunds adjuvant ( difco ) at a concentration of 2 mg / ml . the solution of b - cii was emulsified in an equal volume of cpa and a 100 μl aliquot of this emulsion , containing 200 μg b - cii and 100 μg of mycobacterium , was injected intradermally at the base of the mouse &# 39 ; s tail . after 21 days , all mice were reimmunized using the identical protocol . this secondary cii reimmunization served primarily to boost the serum levels of anti - cii antibodies in the immunized mice . after cii reimmunization , the onset of joint inflammation ( ji ) and disease progression rise dramatically , characterized by the severe swelling and redness of the joints of one or more paws at around 4 - 6 weeks after the initial immunization . mice were examined daily beginning on the day of reimmunization for the appearance of ji . the presence of ji was determined by examining , measuring and scoring each of the forepaws and hindpaws . collagen induced ji ( ciji ) is characterized by swelling and erythema or visible joint distortion of one or more extremities . the severity of ji in each affected paw was scored as : 0 — normal joint ; 1 — visible redness and swelling ; 2 — severe redness and swelling affecting entire paw or joint ; or 3 — deformed paw or joint with ankylosis . the sum of the scores for all four paws in each mouse was used as an index ( the “ ji index ”) to assess overall disease severity and progression . monoclonal antibodies that bind to and block mouse c 5 were prepared by standard methods from hybridoma bb 5 . 1 ( frei , et al ., 1987 ), which was : obtained from dr . brigitta stockinger of the national institute for medical research , mill hill , london , england . anti - human c 8 hybridoma , 135 . 8 , which generates an mab that does not block mouse c 8 , was obtained from dr . peter sims ( blood research institute , milwaukee , wis .). both antibodies are igg1 isotypes , and ascites of bb5 . 1 or 135 . 8 were obtained in athymic nude mice or balb / c mice , respectively . iggs were purified from ascites with a protein a affinity collum eluted with acetic acid , and subsequently dialyzed against pbs . purified antibodies were quantified by spectrophotometric determination of absorbance at 280 nm and sterilized with a 0 . 22 μm filter . for prophylactic treatment , mice were randomly divided as c 5 blocker treated and control treated groups and subsequently received 75 μg per mouse ip doses of either anti - mouse c 5 mab , bb 5 . 1 , or anti - human c 5 mab , 135 . 8 , as a control , twice weekly . for therapeutic treatment of established ji , mice received anti - mouse c 5 mab bb 5 . 1 or anti - human c 8 mab 135 . 8 at 2 - 5 mg / mouse ip daily for 10 days after the initial onset of ji was observed . the doses of anti - c 5 mab were adjusted in a range spanning 2 mg to 5 mg per injection to ensure that the desired depletion of c 5 mediated hemolytic activity was obtained , i . e ., a depletion of at least 50 %. unlike the situation in humans , where administration of a c 5 blocker to a body fluid of genetically unrelated individuals results in roughly equivalent levels of complement inhibition , the dose of anti - murine - c 5 mab required to deplete hemolytic activity by a given amount in mice is strain dependent . the dose required to deplete hemolytic activity in dba / 1lacj mice is approximately four times higher than the dose required to achieve an equivalent depletion of the hemolytic activity in balb / c mice . lymph node cells taken from animals at the time of sacrifice were analyzed for specific t cell responses to collagen ii . t cells ( 5 × 10 5 ) were incubated with 5 × 10 5 mitomycin c ( 50 μg / ml ) treated syngeneic spleen cells from normal dba / 1lacj mice in flat bottomed 96 - well plates , bovine collagen ii ( b - cii ), bovine ci ( b - ci ), chicken cii ( c - cii ) and ovalbumin or bsa were added to cultures at 20 μg / ml . the culture medium was rpmi - 1640 supplemented with 5 % heated inactivated fc 5 , 5 × 10 − 5 m 2 - me , 10 mm hepes buffer , 1 % l - glutamine , 1 % sodium pyruvate , and 1 % penstrep . the cultures were incubated at 37 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 4 days . eighteen hours before harvesting , 1 μci of 3 h - thymidine was added to each well . results are expressed as cpm obtained from triplicate t cell cultures . mice were bled at various times after immunization with b - cii . serum anti b - cii antibody titers were measured using a conventional elisa for b - cii similar to the elisa for anti c 5 antibodies described below in example 8 , but using b - cii to coat the plates ( also see myers , et al ., 1989 , and seki et al ., 1992 , for descriptions of similar assays ). mice from each group were sacrificed and all four legs from each mouse were fixed in 10 % buffered formalin and decalcified in a solution of 3 . 1 % hcl , 5 % formic acid and 7 % aluminum chloride . the tissue samples were embedded in paraffin , sectioned at 5 μm and stained with hematoxylin and eosin . for immunofluorescence staining , paws were decalcified in a 0 . 1 m tris solution containing 10 % edta and 7 5 % pvp for 3 days and frozen in oct at − 80 ° c . 5 μm sections were then prepared and stained with 9fitc conjugated goat anti - mouse igg , iga , and igm ( zymed laboratories , south san francisco , calif ., catalog no . 65 - 6411 ) at a dilution of 1 to 50 . in order to assess the effects of administration of a c 5 blocker on established ji , mice were observed following induction of ciji , as described above , and pairs of mice were selected that showed the initial appearance of readily detectable ji symptoms ( swollen joints of the paws ) on the same day . one mouse of each such pair was treated with a anti - c 5 mab bb 5 . 1 and one was treated with a control injection of either the irrelevant mab 135 . 8 or pbs . in each matched pair , the animal with the greatest overall level of paw inflammation was assigned to the c 5 blocker treatment group so as to avoid potentially biasing the results in favor of the c 5 blocker treatment . starting on the first day when joint inflammation was observed as paw inflammation , treatments were continued daily for 10 days ( in one case a pair of mice was only carried for 8 days .) in addition to these matched pairs , two unpaired animals also received the c 5 blocker treatment after the induction of ji . histological examination of initially affected joints from control - treated mice at the end of the treatment period revealed extensive bone erosion with severe inflammatory cell infiltration , thickening of the synovial membranes , and pannus formation ( fig1 b ). in contrast , the initially affected joints of the c 5 blocker treated group showed preserved joint structure with some degree of thickening of synovial membranes and mononuclear cell infiltration into some of the joints ( fig1 c ). the severe inflammatory cell infiltration in the control - treated joints was predominantly made up of polymorphonuclear cells ( pmns , neutrophils ). surprisingly , such pmn infiltration was almost completely absent in the c 5 blocker treated mice . during the clinical course of ciji , an important indicator of the progression of disease is the involvement of additional limbs . therefore , the number of limbs with clinically detectable ji at the end of the treatment period was compared with the number of limbs exhibiting ji symptoms before the start of therapy . the severity and progression of ji in each affected paw was determined and scored as described above under the heading “ materials and methods ”, and the sum of the scores for all four paws of each animal was used as a “ ji index ”. the thicknesses of all four paws of each animal were also measured with a caliper during the time of this experiment to provide a completely objective evaluation of this aspect of disease progression . as shown in table 1 ( mean values ) and table 2 ( individual values ), there were significant increases in new limb involvement in the control treated group during the course of 10 day treatment , while the number of inflamed limbs was decreased when dba / 1lacj mice with inflamed joints were treated with the c 5 blocker starting at the time of disease onset . in addition to new limb recruitment , the initially affected paws of the control treated animals evidenced progression of inflammatory joint disease severity by becoming more inflamed ( fig2 a . acute inflammation in the affected joints was observed as severe joint swelling and redness during the first few days , followed by joint deformation and ankylosis at the end of 10 day period . in contrast , no new paws were involved and the severity of inflammation in the majority of affected joints subsided or reined unchanged during the course of c 5 blocker therapy ( fig2 a ). the paw thicknesses of initially affected limbs in both c 5 blocker treated and control treated groups during the course of these experiments is shown as mean values for each group in fig2 b . fig3 a , 3 b , 3 c , and 3 d show values for each initially inflamed paw of each of the matched pairs of control treated and c 5 blocker treated animals , while fig3 e shows the values obtained for each initially inflamed paw of each of the unpaired c 5 blocker treated animals ( shown along with the mean values for control treated animals of fig2 b ). in these figures , the number in parenthesis indicates the designation of the particular animal , while the letters following the numbers ( only in those cases where more than one limb was affected initially ) indicate the particular paws affected , with the first letter indicating front ( f ) or rear ( r ) paws , and the second letter indicating right ( r ) or left ( l ) paws . as can be seen in fig2 and 3 , and in tables 1 and 2 , c 5 blocker treatment successfully prevented further paw recruitment and reduced ( but did not completely abolish ) the inflammation in the initially affected joints in all but one ( mouse # 4 ) of the c 5 blocker treated animals . as can be seen in fig2 b , the mean thickness of initially affected paws in the control treated group increased significantly during the 10 day period , while the mean thickness of initially affected paws in the c 5 blocker treated group decreased , but not significantly . in these experiments , the administration of the c 5 blocker coincided with the reimmunization of the experimental animals with b - cii . on the day of reimmunization , mice were symptom free , and were randomly assigned to c 5 blocker treatment or control treatment groups . each mouse was treated with either the c 5 blocker ( anti - mouse c 5 mab , bb 5 . 1 ) or a control treatment ( anti - human c 8 mab , 135 . 8 ) at 750 μg per mouse ip twice weekly . the animals were treated for four weeks , at which time treatment was discontinued . the results of this study are shown in fig4 and 5 . administration the c 5 blocker completely prevented the development of ciji ( 0 / 8 ). all mice in the c 5 blocker treated group exhibited no signs of clinical disease during the period of treatment ( and for up to two months after discontinuing the c 5 blocker therapy in the two animals followed for that long ). in contrast , 90 % of the control treated animals ( 9 / 10 ) developed ji by 4 - 6 weeks after the first b - cii immunization . the percent incidence of ji observed in the control treated and c 5 blocker treated animals after 4 - 6 weeks is plotted in fig5 a . ( note that the value for the c 5 blocker treated group in this figure is actually 0 %, but a bar indicating 1 % has been plotted in order to indicate that the data for this set of animals was obtained and is presented .) peak inflammation levels were observed around 5 weeks after the initial collagen immunization . as shown in fig5 b , 80 % to 90 % of the serum hemolytic activity was depleted in the c 5 blocker treated group , while the serum hemolytic activity remained normal in the control treated group . as shown in fig4 histological examination of affected joints from control mice revealed extensive mononuclear cell as well as polymorphonuclear cell infiltration , thickening of the synovial membrane and bone erosion by the expanding synovial pannus ( fig4 b ). in contrast , there were no signs of inflammatory processes observed in the majority of joints studied from the c 5 blocker treated mice . a few joints from these c 5 blocker treated mice showed some subclinical thickening of the synovial membrane , but this alteration was not accompanied by any visible bone erosion or inflammatory cell infiltration ( fig4 c ). interestingly , immunofluorescence staining showed antibody deposition along cartilage surfaces and c 3 activation at synovial membranes in the joints of both the control treated and the c 5 blocker treated animals . effect of c 5 blocker treatment on the humoral and responses of both the humoral and cellular immune systems are activated after immunization of dba / 1lacj mice with bovine collagen ii . anti b - cii titers increase , and the serum igg anti b - cii titers in c 5 blocker treated mice are equivalent to those of control treated mice when tested at 14 , 28 and 42 days after the initial b - cii immunization ( fig6 a ). anti b - cii antibody titers from both control and anti - c 5 mab treated mice rise significantly after the b - cii reimmunization and remain at the resulting plateau for an extended period of time . in order to study t cell responses , lymph node cells ( lncs ) from c 5 blocker treated mice and control treated mice were cultured with either b - cii , b - ci , c - cii , or culture medium only . lncs from either c 5 blocker treated mice or control treated mice responded specifically and equally to b - cii regardless of the treatment the animals received concurrently with b - cii reimmunization . c - cii , which shares many conserved regions of homology with b - cii also elicited a moderate t cell response when cultured with lncs from c 5 blocker treated mice or from control treated mice . in contrast , lncs from age matched non - immunized mice responded poorly to all of the tested collagens ( fig6 b ). the data obtained in these experiments and those of examples 1 and 2 clearly demonstrate that in vivo administration of a c 5 blocker prevents the development and progression of ciji and that this treatment does not interfere with the humoral and cellular immune responses seen after immunizing mice with bovine type ii collagen . both collagen - specific t cell responses and anti - cii antibody titers were comparable in both the c 5 blocker treated mice and the control treated b - cii reimmunized mice . the effects of a c 5 blocker on complement activation were evaluated using a closed - loop cardio - pulmonary bypass ( cpb ) model for the extracorporeal circulation of human blood . as discussed fully in copending u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 217 , 391 , filed mar . 23 , 1994 , extracorporeal circulation of human blood causes activation of complement in the blood . the c 5 blocker was a monoclonal antibody raised in mice against purified human c 5 protein ( wurzner , et al ., complement inflamm 8 : 328 - 340 , 1991 ; mab n19 - 8 ) that was propagated , recovered and purified as an igg fraction from mouse ascites fluid ( antibodies , a laboratory manual , cold spring harbor laboratory , new york , 1988 ; current protocols in immunology , john wiley & amp ; sons , new york , 1992 ). to carry out these experiments , 300 ml of whole human blood was drawn from a healthy human donor and additionally a 1 ml sample was removed as a control sample for later analysis . the blood was diluted to 600 ml by the addition of ringer &# 39 ; s lactate solution containing 10 u / ml heparin . the c 5 blocker ( 30 mg in sterile pbs ) was added to the diluted blood to a final concentration of 50 μg / ml . in a control experiment , an equal volume of sterile pbs was added to the diluted blood . the blood was then used to prime the extracorporeal circuit of a cobe cml excel membrane oxygenator cpb machine ( cobe bct , inc ., lakewood , colo .) and the circuit was started . the circuit was cooled to 28 ° c . and circulated for 60 minutes . the circuit was then warmed to 37 ° c . and circulated for an additional 30 minutes . the experiment was then terminated . samples were taken at several time points and evaluated for complement activity ( fig7 ). at each time point an aliquot of whole blood was taken , divided into 3 samples and a ) diluted 1 : 1 in 2 % paraformaldehyde in pbs to evaluate platelet and blood cell activation parameters as discussed in the above - referenced u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 217 , 391 ; b ) centrifuged to remove all cells and plasma diluted 1 : 1 in quidel sample preservation solution ( quidel corporation , san diego , calif .) and stored at − 80 ° c ., following which these frozen diluted plasma samples were thawed and used to evaluate c 3 a and c 5 b - 9 generation ( examples 5 and 6 , respectively ), and c ) centrifuged to remove all cells and undiluted plasma stored at − 80 ° c ., following which these frozen plasma samples were thawed and hemolytic assays were performed as described above . as can be seen in fig7 addition of the c 5 blocker to the extracorporeal circuit resulted in a 95 % reduction of the cell - lysing ability of complement in the plasma . the complement activity remained inhibited throughout the course ( 90 minutes ) of the experiment . generation of c 3 a in the presence of a c 5 blocker the fresh frozen plasma samples that had previously been diluted in quidel sample preservation solution following cpb circulation ( see example 4 ) were assayed for the presence of the complement split product c 3 a by using the quidel c 3 a eta kit ( quidel corporation , san diego , calif .). these measurements were carried out according to the manufacturer &# 39 ; s specifications . c 3 a released is expressed in ng / well as determined by comparison to a standard curve generated from samples containing known amounts of human c 3 a . as seen in fig8 addition of the c 5 blocker had no effect on the production of c 3 a during the cpb experiment . c 3 a generation was dramatically increased during the final 30 min of the experiment and correlates with sample warming . prevention of the generation of c 5 b - 9 by a c 5 blocker fresh frozen plasma samples that had been previously diluted in quidel sample preservation solution following cpb circulation ( see example 4 ) were assayed for the presence of the terminal human complement complex c 5 b - 9 using the quidel c 5 b - 9 kit ( quidel corporation , san diego , calif .). the amount of soluble c 5 b - 9 ( sc 5 b - 9 ) in each sample was determined using the manufacturers specifications and is expressed in arbitrary absorbance units ( au ). as can be seen in fig9 the c 5 blocker completely inhibited c 5 b - 9 generation during extracorporeal circulation so that sc 5 b - 9 levels during the full course of the run were equivalent to control ( t 0 ) time points . the results of this experiment and those of examples 4 and 5 show that the addition of a c 5 blocker to human blood undergoing extracorporeal circulation effectively inhibits both complement hemolytic activity ( fig7 ) and c 5 b - 9 generation ( fig9 ), but not c 3 a generation ( fig8 ). the in vivo duration of action of mab bb 5 . 1 , and a fab ′ fragment of mab bb 5 . 1 ( prepared by standard methods ) was determined in normal female balb / cbyj mice ( averaging approximately 20 gms each ) which were obtained from the jackson laboratory , bar harbor , me . the mice were given a single intravenous injection ( at 35 mg / kg body weight ) of the mab or the fab ′ fragment of the mab ( or an equal volume of pbs as a control ). blood samples were collected from the retroorbital plexus at 1 , 4 , 24 , 96 , and 144 hours after administration of pbs ; 4 , 16 , and 24 hours after administration of the fab ′ fragment of mab bb 5 . 1 ; and 4 , 24 , 48 , 72 , 96 , and 144 hours after administration of intact mab bb 5 . 1 . [ 0133 ] fig1 a shows the time course of inhibition of the cell - lysing ability of complement in mouse blood ( determined by testing serum obtained from the blood and diluted to 2 . 5 % in hemolytic assays , as described above ) after the in vivo administration of the intact mab , the fab ′ fragment , or the pbs . as shown in the figure , the intact mab almost completely inhibited the hemolytic activity of the blood throughout the 6 day test period . the fab ′, however , had a half - life of approximately 24 hours . in addition to the above experiments , at the end of the 6 day testing period all of the mice were sacrificed . kidneys , lungs , and livers were harvested and examined by gross inspection , as well as by microscopic examination of stained sections . all of the organs of the c 5 blocker treated animals appeared the same as those taken from the pbs control treated animals . the overall appearance of these test and control mice was also indistinguishable prior to necropsy . an anti - human c 5 mab was also tested for pharmacokinetic properties in circulating human blood as described above in example 4 . as described therein , the hemolysis - inhibiting effects of this c 5 blocker were assayed over a 90 minute period of circulation . the results of these assays are charted in fig1 b , and show that the c 5 blocker essentially completely inhibited the cell lysing ability of the human blood during the entire 90 minute period of circulation . the results of these experiments demonstrate that these c 5 blockers will survive in the bloodstream for a substantial period of timer thus making periodic administration practical . a c 5 blocker mab suitable for use in the practice of the present invention was prepared as follows . balb / c mice were immunized three times by intraperitoneal injection with human c 5 protein ( quidel corporation , san diego , calif ., catalog # a403 ). the first injection contained 100 μg of c 5 protein in a complete freund &# 39 ; s adjuvant emulsion , the second immunization contained 100 μg of c 5 protein in an incomplete freund &# 39 ; s adjuvant emulsion , and the third immunization was 100 μg of protein in pbs . the mice were injected at roughly 2 month intervals . fusions of splenocytes to myeloma cells to generate hybridomas were performed essentially as described in current protocols in . immunology ( john wiley & amp ; sons , new york , 1992 , pages 2 . 5 . 1 to 2 . 5 . 17 ). one day prior to fusion the mice were boosted iv with 100 μg of c 5 protein . on the day of fusion , the immunized mice were sacrificed and spleens was harvested . sp2 / 0 - ag14 myeloma cells ( atcc crl # 1581 ) were used as the fusion partner sp2 / 0 - ag14 cultures were split on the day before the fusion to induce active cell division . a ratio of 1 : 10 ( myeloma cells : splenocytes ) was used in the fusions . the cells were fused using peg 1450 in pbs without calcium ( sigma chemical company , st . louis , mo ., catalog no . p - 7181 ) and plated at 1 - 2 . 5 × 10 5 cells per well . selection in ex - cell 300 medium ( jrh biosciences , lexena , kans ., catalog no . 14337 - 78p ) supplemented with 10 % heat inactivated fetal bovine serum ( fbs ); glutamine , penicillin and streptomycin ( cps ); and hat ( sigma chemical company , st . louis , mo ., catalog no . h - 0262 ) was started the following day . the fusions were then fed every other day with fresh fbs , gps , and hat supplemented medium . cell death could be seen as early as 2 days and viable cell clusters could be seen as early as 5 days after initiating selection . after two weeks of selection in hat , surviving hybridomas chosen for further study were transferred to ex - cell 300 medium supplemented with fbs , gps , and mt ( sigma chemical company , st . louis , mo ., catalog no . h - 0137 ) for 1 week and then cultured in ex - cell 300 medium supplemented with pbs and gps . hybridomas were screened for reactivity to c 5 and inhibition of complement - mediated hemolysis 10 - 14 days after fusion , and were carried at least until the screening results were analyzed . the screen for inhibition of hemolysis was the chicken erythrocyte lysis assay described above . the screen for c 5 reactivity was an elisa , which was carried out using the following protocol . a 50 μl aliquot of a 2 μg / ml solution of c 5 ( quidel corporation , san diego , calif .) in sodium carbonate / bicarbonate buffer , ph 9 . 5 , was incubated overnight at 4 ° c . in each test well of a 96 well plate ( nunc - immuno f96 polysorp , a / s nunc , roskilde , denmark ). the wells were then subjected to a wash step . ( each wash step consisted of three washes with tbst .) next , test wells were blocked with 200 μl of blocking solution , 1 % bsa in tbs ( bsa / tbs ) for 1 hour at 37 ° c . after an additional wash step , a 50 μl aliquot of hybridoma supernatant was incubated in each test well for 1 hour at 37 ° c . with a subsequent wash step . as a secondary ( detection ) antibody , 50 μl of a 1 : 2000 dilution of horseradish peroxidase ( hrp ) conjugated goat anti - mouse igg in bsa / tbs , was incubated in each test well for 1 hour at 37 ° c ., followed by a wash step . following the manufacturer &# 39 ; s procedures , 10 mg of o - phenylenediamine ( sigma chemical company , st . louis , mo ., catalog no . p - 8287 ) was dissolved in 25 mls of phosphate - citrate buffer ( sigma chemical company , st . louis , mo ., catalog no . p - 4922 ), and 50 μl of this substrate solution was added to each well to allow detection of peroxidase activity . finally , to stop the peroxidase detection reaction , a 50 μl aliquot of 3 n hydrochloric acid was added to each well . the presence of antibodies reactive with c 5 in the hybridoma supernatants was read out by a spectrophotometric od determination at 490 nm . the supernatant front a hybridoma designated as 5 g 1 . 1 tested positive by elisa and substantially reduced the cell - lysing ability of complement present in normal human blood in the chicken erythrocyte hemolysis assay . further analyses revealed that the 5 g 1 . 1 antibody reduces the cell - lysing ability of component present in normal human blood so efficiently that , even when present at roughly one - half the molar concentration of human c 5 in the hemolytic assay , it can almost completely neutralize serum hemolytic activity . hybridoma 5 g 1 . 1 was deposited with the american type culture collection , 10801 university boulevard , manassas , va . 20110 - 2209 , united states of america , on apr . 27 , 1994 , and has been assigned the designation hb - 11625 . this deposit were made under the budapest treaty on the international recognition of the deposit of micro - organisms for the purposes of patent procedure ( 1977 ). throughout this application various publications and patent disclosures are referred to . the teachings and disclosures thereof , in their entireties , are hereby incorporated by reference into this application to more fully describe the state of the art to which the present invention pertains . although preferred and other embodiments of the invention have been described herein , further embodiments may be perceived by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims . abbink et al ., 1992 . annals rheumatic dis 51 , pp 1123 - 1128 . andersson and holmdahl , 1990 . eur j immunol 20 , pp . 1061 - 1066 . arnett , 1992 . cecil textbook of medicine , wyngaarden et al . 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