Suppressor T-cell abnormality in NOD mice before onset of diabetes.
To investigate the pathological role of suppressor T-cells in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice, we stimulated splenic T-lymphocytes from diabetes-prone NOD mice with concanavalin A (ConA) and then evaluated their ability to suppress the lymphocyte-proliferative responses to mitogen and allogenic cells. Lymphocytes from NOD mice showed significantly less suppressor ability than did those from BALB/c mice and non-obese non-diabetic (NON) mice, the corresponding non-diabetic sister strain of the NOD mouse, both in the mitogen response and in the mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR). We used monoclonal antibodies and flow cytometry to analyze the lymphocytic surface phenotypes, and found markedly fewer Lyt2+ T-lymphocytes (suppressor/cytotoxic T-lymphocyte) in the NOD mice than in both controls after exposure to ConA. These results suggest that suppressor T-cell activity is already depressed in NOD mice before diabetes begins and that a substantial decrease in the number of suppressor T-cells induced by ConA may explain this depressed suppressor activity. This impairment may contribute to the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes in NOD mice.
Hatamori
N
N
Second Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University School of Medicine, Japan.
Yokono
K
K
Nagata
M
M
Kawase
Y
Y
Hayakawa
M
M
Akiyama
H
H
Sakamoto
T
T
Yonezawa
K
K
Yaso
S
S
Shii
K
K
D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003208:Concanavalin A; D004261:DNA Replication; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D011236:Prediabetic State / Q000276:immunology*; D012016:Reference Values; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology
D003208:Concanavalin A