Accelerated Diabetes in Rat Insulin Promoter-Tumor Necrosis Factor- Transgenic Nonobese Diabetic Mice Lacking Major Histocompatibility Class II Molecules
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2004年10月30日 11:26:08 Saturday
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作者:Govindarajan Rajagopalan Yogish C. Kudva Richard A. Flavell and Chella S. David
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【关键词】 Accelerated,
1 Department of Immunology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
2 Division of Endocrinology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
3 Section of Immunobiology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| ABSTRACT |
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| TOP ABSTRACT RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES |
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The major predisposing genetic component in type 1 diabetes maps to the major histocompatibility complex locus in both mice and humans. To verify the HLA class II association with disease pathogenesis, we adopted the transgenic approach. Expression of HLA-DQ8, the molecule showing the strongest association with human type 1 diabetes, in the diabetes-predisposing milieu of NOD mice in the absence of the endogenous class II molecule I-Ag7 did not render susceptibility to type 1 diabetes. To study if providing a local proinflammatory environment would lead to diabetes in these mice, Aßo.NOD.DQ8 were bred with C57BL/6 mice expressing tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-
Type 1 diabetes is an organ-specific autoimmune disease resulting from the interaction of several genetic elements and yet undetermined environmental factors. It is characterized by a predominantly T-cell-mediated destruction of insulin-producing ß-cells of the islets of Langerhans culminating in life-long insulin dependence. More than 18 genetic loci are implicated in the etiopathogenesis of type 1 diabetes, of which idd1 (in mice) or IDDM1 (in humans), which encompass the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) gene complex, has consistently shown the strongest association (1). A significant majority of patients with type 1 diabetes express certain HLA class II molecules, such as HLA-DQ8/DR4 or DQ2/DR3 (2). However, the precise roles played by these MHC class II molecules in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes still remain speculative. Promiscuous peptide presentation by the disease-associated class II molecules resulting in improper negative selection of autoreactive T-cells remains as the favored hypothesis (3). A significant influence of class I molecules is also suspected because CD8+ T-cells also play a crucial role in the disease pathogenesis (4).
Much of the understanding of the immunopathogenesis of several autoimmune diseases, including diabetes, has been feasible only because of the availability of suitable animal models (5). Of the two models of spontaneous type 1 diabetes, NOD mice and BB rats, the former is widely used where the disease occurs with increased frequency and disease onset is earlier in females (6). The strong structural (7) and functional (8) similarity between the NOD class II molecule, H2-Ag7, and its human counterpart, HLA-DQ8, suggest a common etiological role. Spontaneous loss of tolerance to GAD65, one of the major autoantigens implicated in type 1 diabetes, in HLA-DQ8 transgenic mice on a diabetes-resistant B10 background lends support to this hypothesis (9,10). Although diabetes was seldom seen in these mice, mild insulitis in a small percentage of islets was a consistent finding (9). Absence of disease per se in the face of demonstrable autoreactivity in HLA-DQ8 transgenic mice indicated the requirement of additional factors/stimuli. Islet-specific expression of the costimulatory molecule B7 happens to be one such factor/stimulus, which can drive the nonpathogenic autoreactive T-cells to the pathogenic pathway in these mice (11,12). This effect was HLA-DQ8 specific because rat insulin promoter (RIP)-B7 mice transgenic for HLA-DQ6 were diabetes free (11). Even though HLA-DQ8 exhibited such strong pro-diabetogenic properties, transgenic expression of DQ8 in the diabetes-predisposing milieu of NOD mice lacking endogenous class II (I-Ag7) did not confer susceptibility to type 1 diabetes (13). Nevertheless, NOD mice transgenic for DQ8 were susceptible to spontaneous disease in the presence of I-Ag7, indicating that DQ8 is permissible to diabetes (14).
Similar to the situation where provision of local costimulation with transgenic B7 resulted in diabetes in mice expressing HLA-DQ8 (11), we envisaged that islet-specific expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-
would also facilitate the study of HLA-DQ8 association with type 1 diabetes. In this context, it is important to know that even though neonatal expression of TNF-
under the control of RIP resulted in extensive insulitis in diabetes-resistant B6 mice (15), it led to diabetes only in NOD mice (16), indicating that only the NOD genetic background is permissible for induction of diabetes by RIP-TNF (17). Therefore, in the present study, HLA-DQ8 transgenic mice on NOD background (Aßo.NOD.DQ8) were mated with the diabetes-resistant RIP-TNF mice on the B6 background.
| RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS |
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| TOP ABSTRACT RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES |
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Generation of HLA transgenic RIP-TNF mice.
C57BL/6 mice expressing TNF-
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Diabetes monitoring.
The 4- to 6-week-old mice were moved from the barrier facility to the conventional facility after weaning, and their glycemic status was monitored weekly using a Glucometer (Bayer, Pittsburgh, PA). Diabetes was diagnosed when two consecutive random blood glucose levels were >13.9 mmol/l.
Histopathology and immunohistochemistry.
Histopathology was performed as described earlier (13). For immunofluorescence staining, pancreata were embedded in an OCT compound (Tissue Tek; Sakura FineTek, Torrance, CA), immersed in chilled Isopentane, and frozen immediately in liquid nitrogen. Thin sections made from frozen tissue were first air-dried, fixed in cold acetone, and subsequently treated with 1% paraformaldehyde. Sections were subsequently incubated with rat anti-mouse primary antibodies, CD4 (GK1.5), CD8 (Lyt 2.2), CD19 (Pharmingen, San Diego, CA), and CD11b (Pharmingen). A rat isotype control was also included. In the next step, sections were incubated with goat anti-rat secondary antibody (Jackson Immunoresearch Lab, West Grove, PA) followed by rabbit anti-goat IgG/fluorescein isothiocyanate conjugate (ICN, Costa Mesa, CA). Sections were examined under a fluorescent microscope.
Statistical analysis.
The statistical analyses were performed using SAS software (Version 4.0.4, SAS Institute, Cary, NC).
| RESULTS |
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| TOP ABSTRACT RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES |
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NOD/B6/RIP-TNF mice develop diabetes, which is dependent on islet-specific expression of TNF.
Previous studies have shown that the F1 intercrosses of B6.RIP-TNF mice and NOD mice seldom developed diabetes (15,17). This indicated that the presence of TNF did not overcome the dominant protective effects of B6-derived diabetes-resistant alleles when inducing diabetes in NOD F1 intercrosses. However, in the present study, diabetes developed in NOD/B6.RIP-TNF F1 intercrosses. Mice belonging to either sex were equally susceptible. However, diabetes only developed in littermates expressing TNF (males, 58/112, 49.15%; females, 38/106, 35.85%; overall, 96/218, 42.2%). Littermates lacking RIP-TNF were diabetes free during the entire observation period (males, 0/67; females, 0/69), confirming the prior reports that the presence of NOD background per se does not result in diabetes in NOD x B6 crosses (18). The possibility that transgenically expressed TNF could be directly toxic to the ß-cells is unlikely, because if this were the case, the incidence of diabetes would have been similar in all the groups and would have occurred even in the B6.RIP-TNF founder line.
Diabetes in NOD/B6/RIP-TNF mice is independent of functional class II molecules.
Aßo.NOD.DQ8 mice used for initial breeding lack endogenous class II molecules because the H2-Aß gene has been inactivated by gene targeting (19). The functional I-E molecule is also not expressed in these mice because of a natural mutation in the H2-E
promoter region, which precludes the expression of the I-E chain (20). Therefore, these mice express only the transgenic HLA-DQ8. On the other hand, B6.RIP-TNF mice do express functional H2-A molecules. The littermates generated by crossing Aßo.NOD.DQ8 and B6.RIP-TNF can therefore express different combinations of class II molecules, as shown in , or may not express any class II molecules at all. Interestingly, littermates completely lacking any functional class II molecules were indeed susceptible to diabetes (males, 14/17, 82.35%; females, 12/18, 66.67%; overall, 26/35, 74.28%). The onset of diabetes was earliest in this group of mice, and the disease progressed rapidly. Most importantly, the incidence of disease was highest in this group (P < 0.001, 2 test; ). However, diabetes in this group also depended on islet-specific expression of TNF because littermates lacking both class II and RIP-TNF were diabetes free (overall, 0/24; males, 0/7; females, 0/17). There were no significant differences in B220+ cells, macrophages, NK cells, or CD8+ T-cells in the secondary lymphoid organs between littermates of Aßo.NOD.RIP-TNF mice with and without RIP-TNF, indicating that transgenic expression of TNF in the islets does not alter the development of immune components (data not shown). Similarly, there was no appreciable difference in these above parameters between euglycemic and hyperglycemic Aßo.NOD.RIP-TNF mice (data not shown).
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Expression of class II molecules downregulates diabetes.
Compared with class II-deficient littermates, the incidence of diabetes in mice that expressed any single functional class II molecules (Aß-/-.DQ8+.NOD.RIP.TNF+, Aß+/-.DQ8-.NOD.RIP.TNF+, and Aß+/+.DQ8-.NOD.RIP.TNF+) was lower. In this group, the onset of disease was delayed and the disease progression was slower; however, the incidence of disease did not differ significantly. There was also no significant difference in the incidence of diabetes in the HLA-DQ8- mice that were homozygous or heterozygous for I-Ab. Interestingly, mice homozygous for H2-Ab and also expressing HLA-DQ8 (Aß+/+.DQ8+.NOD.RIP.TNF+) had the lowest incidence of diabetes (P < 0.05 when compared with mice expressing any single class II molecule, and P < 0.001 when compared with mice devoid of all class II molecules; 2 test; Fig. 1 and Table 2). This result indicated that the presence of functional class II molecules and therefore CD4+ T-cells downregulates disease incidence and severity in RIP-TNF mice. We also generated three lines of Aß°.DQ8.RIP.TNF mice lacking CD8, ß2-microglobulin, or the classic class I molecules Kb and Db. So far, the preliminary results indicate that these mice are diabetes free (data not shown). This result implies that CD8+ T-cells are most likely the effectors. We are currently generating these lines (CD8-/-, ß2-microglobulin-/-, and KbDb-/-) on the class II-deficient background to prove a similar role for CD8+ T-cells in class II-deficient RIP-TNF mice.
Put together, these results indicate that 1) diabetes in NOD.RIP-TNF mice can occur even in the absence of functional class II molecules and CD4+ T-cells, and 2) expression of functional class II molecules offers significant protection from diabetes.
Histopathology of islets.
Infiltration of islets with mononuclear cells was evident as early as 3 weeks in RIP.TNF+ mice (Fig. 2), as shown in earlier studies (15,21), whereas the littermates lacking RIP-TNF did not show evidence of insulitis. The infiltrates were primarily composed of B-cells and macrophages. T-cells were also detected. No significant difference in the extent of insulitis or pattern of insulitis in different groups of mice based on the expression of class II molecules could be appreciated (data not shown). CD4+ T-cells were present in the class II-positive islets but were almost absent in mice lacking class II molecules, whereas CD8+ T-cells were present in islets from both groups . B-cells and macrophages could be seen in islets from both groups; however, there seemed to be a difference in the distribution of B-cells and macrophages. Whereas the islets from mice expressing class II molecules had more macrophages, islets from mice lacking class II molecules had more B-cells . Salivary glands, kidneys, and thyroid glands were devoid of any mononuclear cell infiltration (data not shown) as described previously (15).
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