title: Low expression of insulin in the thymus of non-obese diabetic mice.
abstract: Insulin is a predominant autoantigen in IDDM in man and the NOD mouse. Failure of negative selection of diabetogenic T cells in thymus may be an important pre-disposing cause of the disease. To obtain insight into negative selection against such T-cell clones the thymic expression of insulin was studied in NOD and Balb/c mice by quantitative competitive RT-PCR. We detected RNA for insulin in the thymus of 3-week-old Balb/c mice as well as in NOD mice. However, the NOD mice expressed only half as many insulin transcripts as the Balb/c mice. Also, insulin protein was detected in the thymic medulla of both Balb/c and NOD mice. Furthermore, thymic RNA preparations were investigated for the presence of insulin transcription factors. None of the known pancreatic transcription factors for insulin; Pdx-1, Pax6 or Nkx6.1 were detectable in the thymus of Balb/c mice. These results support the idea that low insulin expression in the thymus may be a predisposing cause for development of diabetes in NOD mice analogous with what has been found in humans with the disease-disposing IDDM2 allele. Furthermore, our results suggest that insulin expression in the thymus may be regulated by different principles from those in the pancreas.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. marie.brimnes@mssm.edu
authors.forename: Marie K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Brimnes
authors.forename: Teis
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: Trine N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Jørgensen
authors.forename: Birgitte K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Michelsen
authors.forename: Jesper
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Troelsen
authors.forename: Ole
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Werdelin
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D007328:Insulin / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014157:Transcription Factors