A comparative study of T-cell receptor Vβ usage in non-obese diabetic (NOD) and I-E transgenic NOD mice.

The non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse is a model for the study of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Recently transgenic NOD mice have been derived (NOD-E) that express the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class III-E molecule. NOD-E do not become diabetic and show negligible pancreatic insulins. The possibility pertained that NOD-E mice are protected from disease by a process of T-cell deletion or anergy. This paper describes our attempts to discover whether this was so, by comparing NOD and NOD-E mouse T-cell receptor Vβ usage. Splenocytes and lymph node cells were therefore tested for their ability to proliferate iii response to monoclonal anti-Vβ antibodies. We were unable to show any consistent differences between NOD and NOD-E responses to the panel of antibodies used. Previously proposed Vβ were shown to be unlikely candidates for deletion or anergy. T cells present at low frequency (Vβ5+) in both NOD and NOD-E mice were shown to be as capable of expansion in response to antigenic stimulation as were more frequently expressed Vβ. Our data therefore do not support deletion or anergy as mechanisms which could account for the observed disease protection in NOD-E mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]