Autoimmune diabetes-prone NOD mice express the Lyt2{sup a} (Lyt2.1) and Lyt3{sup a} (Lyt3.1) alleles of CD8
- Univ. of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL (United States); and others
Predisposition to Type I insulin-dependent diabetes (IDD) has a strong underlying genetic basis involving class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes as well as several non-MHC genetic systems. In the non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse, a model for human IDD, genes associated with the appearance of immune cell infiltrates in the pancreatic islets (insulitis) and/or overt IDD have been mapped to chromosomes 1, 3, 6, 11, and 17. A recent report has suggested that CD8+ lymphocytes of the NOD mouse might be deficient in the expression of the CD8{Beta} molecule, a protein encoded by a gene on chromosome 6. The CD8{Beta} molecule is a T-cell surface marker, the lack of which could affect selection in the thymus, possibly permitting auto-reactive T-cell clones to populate the peripheral lymphoid tissues. For this reason, we examined the expression of the CD8 molecule by lymphocytes in the NOD mouse. Results indicate that the NOD mouse is not deficient in its transcription of detectable mRNA encoding either the CD8{alpha} or {Beta} subunits. However, the NOD mouse expresses the Lyt2{sup a} and Lyt3{sup a} alleles, suggesting that a portion of chromosome 6 centromeric to the diabetes-susceptibility genetic region is derived from an ancestry common to AKR and, like AKR, the CD8{alpha} and CD8{Beta}3.1 (but not CD8{Beta}3.2) subunits are detected on the cell surface of T lymphocytes of the NOD mouse. Interestingly, though, the CD8{Beta}3.1 molecule may not be expressed in the NOD mouse to the same extent as it is expressed in the AKR/J mouse, suggesting the possibility that the NOD mouse possesses a defect somewhere between transcription and cell surface expression of the CD8{Beta} molecule. 36 refs., 5 figs.
- OSTI ID:
- 240987
- Journal Information:
- Immunogenetics, Vol. 43, Issue 1-2; Other Information: PBD: 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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