title: High-throughput sequencing of islet-infiltrating memory CD4+ T cells reveals a similar pattern of TCR Vβ usage in prediabetic and diabetic NOD mice.
abstract: Autoreactive memory CD4(+) T cells play a critical role in the development of type 1 diabetes, but it is not yet known how the clonotypic composition and TCRβ repertoire of the memory CD4(+) T cell compartment changes during the transition from prediabetes to diabetes. In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing to analyze the TCRβ repertoire of sorted islet-infiltrating memory CD4(+)CD44(high) T cells in 10-week-old prediabetic and recently diabetic NOD mice. We show that most clonotypes of islet-infiltrating CD4(+)CD44(high) T cells were rare, but high-frequency clonotypes were significantly more common in diabetic than in prediabetic mice. Moreover, although the CD4(+)CD44(high) TCRβ repertoires were highly diverse at both stages of disease development, dominant use of TRBV1 (Vβ2), TRBV13-3 (Vβ8.1), and TRBV19 (Vβ6) was evident in both prediabetic and diabetic mice. Our findings strongly suggest that therapeutic targeting of cells specifically expressing the dominant TCRβ might reduce pancreatic infiltration in prediabetic mice and attenuate the progression to diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, San Diego, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Idania
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Marrero
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Hamm
authors.forename: Joanna D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Davies
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D002999:Clone Cells; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / Q000379:methods*; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors / Q000378:metabolism; D007156:Immunologic Memory / Q000235:genetics*; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000473:pathology*; D051379:Mice; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D011236:Prediabetic State / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D015704:CD4 Antigens; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta