Human Immune System Development and Rejection of Human Islet Allografts in Spontaneously Diabetic NOD-Rag1null IL2rγnullIns2Akita Mice
- Michael A. Brehm1,
- Rita Bortell1,
- Philip diIorio1,
- Jean Leif1,
- Joseph Laning1,
- Amy Cuthbert1,
- Chaoxing Yang1,
- Mary Herlihy2,
- Lisa Burzenski3,
- Bruce Gott3,
- Oded Foreman3,
- Alvin C. Powers4,5,
- Dale L. Greiner1,3,6 and
- Leonard D. Shultz3
- 1Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts;
- 2University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts;
- 3The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine;
- 4Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee;
- 5Veterans Affairs Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, Nashville, Tennessee;
- 6Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts.
- Corresponding author: Michael Brehm, michael.brehm{at}umassmed.edu.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To create an immunodeficient mouse model that spontaneously develops hyperglycemia to serve as a diabetic host for human islets and stem cell–derived β-cells in the absence or presence of a functional human immune system.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We backcrossed the Ins2Akita mutation onto the NOD-Rag1null IL2rγnull strain and determined 1) the spontaneous development of hyperglycemia, 2) the ability of human islets, mouse islets, and dissociated mouse islet cells to restore euglycemia, 3) the generation of a human immune system following engraftment of human hematopoietic stem cells, and 4) the ability of the humanized mice to reject human islet allografts.
RESULTS We confirmed the defects in innate and adaptive immunity and the spontaneous development of hyperglycemia conferred by the IL2rγnull, Rag1null, and Ins2Akita genes in NOD-Rag1null IL2rγnull Ins2Akita (NRG-Akita) mice. Mouse and human islets restored NRG-Akita mice to normoglycemia. Insulin-positive cells in dissociated mouse islets, required to restore euglycemia in chemically diabetic NOD-scid IL2rγnull and spontaneously diabetic NRG-Akita mice, were quantified following transplantation via the intrapancreatic and subrenal routes. Engraftment of human hematopoietic stem cells in newborn NRG-Akita and NRG mice resulted in equivalent human immune system development in a normoglycemic or chronically hyperglycemic environment, with >50% of engrafted NRG-Akita mice capable of rejecting human islet allografts.
CONCLUSIONS NRG-Akita mice provide a model system for validation of the function of human islets and human adult stem cell, embryonic stem cell, or induced pluripotent stem cell–derived β-cells in the absence or presence of an alloreactive human immune system.
Footnotes
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The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
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- Received March 4, 2010.
- Accepted June 9, 2010.
- © 2010 by the American Diabetes Association.
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