Peripherally-Derived Regulatory T Cells in Mouse Autoimmune Diabetes
January 2019
in “
eScholarship (California Digital Library)
”
TLDR Thymus-derived Tregs, not peripherally-derived Tregs, primarily regulate type 1 diabetes in the NOD mouse model.
The study investigated the role of peripherally-derived regulatory T cells (pTregs) in type 1 diabetes (T1D) using a non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse model with a deletion of the CNS1 enhancer, crucial for pTreg generation. The findings indicated that CNS1 deletion did not significantly alter Treg frequencies or characteristics in most organs, except for a shift towards thymus-derived Tregs (tTregs) in the large intestine. Despite increased insulitis, there was no rise in T1D incidence, suggesting that pTregs did not play a significant role in this model. Instead, tTregs were identified as the primary regulators of T1D, with Tregs in pancreatic islets recognizing thymically-presented antigens rather than peripherally-derived neoantigens. The study concluded that pTregs were not frequently generated against pancreatic neoantigens in the NOD mouse model.