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The early three (E3) region of the adenovirus (Ad) encodes a number of immunomodulatory proteins that interfere with class I major histocompatibility-mediated antigen presentation and confer resistance to cytokine-induced apoptosis in cells infected by the virus. Transgenic expression of Ad E3 genes under the rat insulin II promoter (RIP-E3) in beta-cells in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice decreases the incidence and delays the onset of autoimmune diabetes. The immune effector cells of RIP-E3/NOD mice maintain the ability to infiltrate the islets and transfer diabetes into NOD-scid recipients, although at a significantly reduced rate compared with wild-type littermates. The islets of RIP-E3/ NOD mice can be destroyed by adoptive transfer of splenocytes from wild-type NOD mice; however, the time to onset of hyperglycemia is delayed significantly, and 40% of these recipients were not diabetic at the end of the experiment. These findings suggest that expression of E3 genes in beta-cells affects both the activation of immune effector cells and the intrinsic resistance of beta-cells to autoimmune destruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice and some human type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients manifest low to high levels of other autoimmune pathologies. Skewing their cytokine production from a Th1 (primarily IFN-gamma) to a Th2 (primarily IL-4 and IL-10) pattern is a widely proposed approach to dampen the pathogenicity of autoreactive diabetogenic T cells. However, it is important that altered cytokine balances not enhance any other autoimmune proclivities to dangerous levels. Murine CD4 T cells are characterized by a reciprocal relationship between the production of IFN-gamma and expression of the beta-chain component of its receptor (IFN-gamma RB). Thus, NOD mice constitutively expressing a CD2 promoter-driven IFN-gamma RB transgene in all T cells are Th1-deficient. Unexpectedly, NOD.IFN-gamma RB Tg mice were found to develop a lethal early paralytic syndrome induced by a CD8 T cell-dependent autoimmune-mediated myositis. Furthermore, pancreatic insulitis levels were not diminished in 9-wk-old NOD.IFN-gamma RB Tg females, and overt T1D developed in the few that survived to an older age. Autoimmune-mediated myositis is only occasionally detected in standard NOD mice. Hence, some manipulations diminishing Th1 responses can bring to the forefront what are normally secondary autoimmune pathologies in NOD mice, while also failing to dependably abrogate pancreatic beta cell destruction. This should raise a cautionary note when considering the use of protocols that induce alterations in cytokine balances as a means of blocking progression to overt T1D in at-risk humans.