Diabetes, Vol 45, Issue 6 818-821, Copyright © 1996 by American Diabetes Association

ARTICLES

Differential responsiveness to interferon-alpha in beta-cells and non-beta cells

V Bonnevie-Nielsen, K Buschard and T Dyrberg
Department of Medical Microbiology, Odense University, Denmark.

Interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) is important in the innate immune defense, particularly in viral infections. IFN-alpha induces 2',5'A synthetase, the products of which, 2',5'-oligoadenine nucleotides, activate mRNA degrading enzymes. IFN-alpha is the first detectable cytokine in the insulitis lesion seen in recent-onset IDDM, and insulin promoter directed expression of IFN-alpha in transgenic mice leads to development of IDDM. Here, we demonstrate that IFN-alpha induces 2',5'A synthetase activity only in insulin-producing betaTC3 cells and in isolated single rat beta-cells but not in alphaTC3 cells or in isolated rat non-beta-cells. The increased responsiveness of beta-cells but not non-beta-cells to IFN-alpha with the ensuing activation of the mRNA-degrading 2',5'A synthetase system suggests why only the beta-cells are destroyed in the diabetogenic process.
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