Diabetes
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Erratum (v50,p2414)
Right arrow Purchase Article
Right arrow View Shopping Cart
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Whalen, B. J.
Right arrow Articles by Rossini, A. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Whalen, B. J.
Right arrow Articles by Rossini, A. A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Diabetes 50:972-979, 2001
© 2001 by the American Diabetes Association, Inc.

BB Rat Thymocytes Cultured in the Presence of Islets Lose Their Ability to Transfer Autoimmune Diabetes

Barbara J. Whalen, Jan Marounek, Peter Weiser, Michael C. Appel, Dale L. Greiner, John P. Mordes, and Aldo A. Rossini

Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts

Thymocytes from adult BB rats can adoptively transfer autoimmune diabetes to athymic recipients. It is also known that the development of BB rat T-cells is recapitulated in adult thymus organ cultures (ATOCs). Based on these observations, we tested the hypothesis that cells capable of the adoptive transfer of diabetes would be present in long-term ATOCs but could be rendered nondiabetogenic by co-culture with appropriate antigens. We observed that cells recovered from adult diabetes-resistant BB (BBDR) rat thymi cultured for up to 14 days can adoptively transfer disease to athymic WAG-rnu/rnu rats treated with polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid and a monoclonal antibody to preclude development of ART2a+ regulatory T-cells. Co-culture of adult BBDR thymi in the presence of BBDR thyrocytes had no effect on the ability of recovered cells to induce diabetes in 70–80% of adoptive recipients. In contrast, co-culture in the presence of islets prevented transfer of diabetes, on average, in >90% of recipients. Fresh islets, frozen islets, and islets pretreated with streptozotocin to deplete insulin were equally effective in preventing diabetes, but none prevented insulitis in nondiabetic recipients. Co-culture in the presence of islets was not associated with detectable alterations in phenotype or in the secretion of {gamma}-interferon or interleukin-4, either in cultures or in cells recovered from adoptive recipients. We conclude that islet antigens involved in the initiation of autoimmune diabetes in BB rats may be absent or deficient in BB rat thymi. Exposure of ATOCs to exogenous islets may lead to deletion or anergy of diabetogenic T-cells or to the positive selection of regulatory T-cells.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 DiabetesHome page
J. P. Mordes, J. Leif, S. Novak, C. DeScipio, D. L. Greiner, and E. P. Blankenhorn
The iddm4 Locus Segregates With Diabetes Susceptibility in Congenic WF.iddm4 Rats
Diabetes, November 1, 2002; 51(11): 3254 - 3262.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Diabetes Diabetes Care Clinical Diabetes Diabetes Spectrum
Copyright © 2001 by the American Diabetes Association.