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* Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Unité 561, Groupe Hospitalier Cochin-Saint Vincent de Paul, Paris, France;
Department of Immunology, Cochin Institute, INSERM, Unité 567, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unite Mixte de Recherche 8104, René Descartes University, Cochin Hospital, Paris, France;
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; and
Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Groupe Hospitalier Cochin-Saint Vincent de Paul, Université Paris V, Paris, France
Proinsulin is a key Ag in type 1 diabetes, but the mechanisms regulating proinsulin immune tolerance are unknown. We have shown that preproinsulin-2 gene-deficient mice (proins-2–/–) are intolerant to proinsulin-2. In this study, we analyzed the mechanisms underlying T cell-mediated tolerance to proinsulin-2 in 129/Sv nonautoimmune mice. The expression of one proinsulin-2 allele, whatever its parental origin, was sufficient to maintain tolerance. The site of proinsulin-2 expression relevant to tolerance was evaluated in thymus and bone marrow chimeras. CD4+ T cell reactivity to proinsulin-2 was independent of proinsulin-2 expression in radiation-sensitive bone marrow-derived cells. A wt thymus restored tolerance in proins-2–/– mice. Conversely, the absence of the preproinsulin-2 gene in radioresistant thymic cells was sufficient to break tolerance. Although chimeric animals had proinsulin-2-reactive CD4+ T cells in their peripheral repertoire, they displayed no insulitis or insulin Abs, suggesting additional protective mechanisms. In a model involving transfer to immunodeficient (CD3
–/–) mice, naive and proinsulin-2-primed CD4+ T cells were not activated, but could be activated by immunization regardless of whether the recipient mice expressed proinsulin-2. Furthermore, we could not identify a role for putative specific T cells regulating proinsulin-2-reactive CD4+ T in transfer experiments. Thus, proinsulin-2 gene expression by radioresistant thymic epithelial cells is involved in the induction of self-tolerance, and additional factors are required to induce islet abnormalities.
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