Molecular mimicry of brucella melitensis epitopes in mouse and human arthritis

Abstract

Brucellosis is one of the most frequent zoonosis worldwide. Infection is transferable to humans, where brucellosis is associated with high incidence of osteoarticular disease including osteomyelitis, arthritis and spondyloarthritis. Peripheral arthritis and sacroiliitis often develop in patients with no or low count of live Brucella. Recently, we demonstrated that mice develop spontaneous arthritis several weeks after acute infection when bacteria are already eradicated. We aim to decipher immune mechanism of the brucellosis-associated delayed arthritis that has not been elucidated so far.