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We provide a reproducible method to induce type 1 diabetes (T1D) in mice within two weeks by the adoptive transfer of islet antigen-specific, primary CD4+ T cells.
The nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse spontaneously develops autoimmune diabetes after 12 weeks of age and is the most extensively studied animal model of human Type 1 diabetes (T1D). Cell transfer studies in irradiated recipient mice have established that T cells are pivotal in T1D pathogenesis in this model. We describe herein a simple method to rapidly induce T1D by adoptive transfer of purified, primary CD4+ T cells from pre-diabetic NOD mice transgenic for the islet-specific T cell receptor (TCR) BDC2.5 into NOD.SCID recipient mice. The major advantages of this technique are that isolation and adoptive transfer of diabetogenic T cells can be completed within the same day, irradiation of the recipients is not required, and a high incidence of T1D is elicited within 2 weeks after T cell transfer. Thus, studies of pathogenesis and therapeutic interventions in T1D can proceed at a faster rate than with methods that rely on heterogenous T cell populations or clones derived from diabetic NOD mice.
The NOD mouse develops autoimmune diabetes spontaneously and has been widely used as an animal model for human T1D1,2. Pathogenesis of T1D in NOD mice is characterized by infiltration, beginning at 3-4 weeks of age, of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans by dendritic cells and macrophages, followed by T and B cells. This phase of non-destructive peri-insulitis leads to a slow, progressive destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic β cells, resulting in overt diabetes by 4-6 months of age3. Transfer of splenocytes4,5, CD4+6,7 or CD8+8,9 T cells from diabetic NOD mice have been shown to mediate diabetes in imm....
1. Isolation of T Cells from Spleen and Lymph Nodes of BDC2.5 Mice
Our results show the isolation of transgenic BDC2.5 cells expressing CD62L, which is critical for T cells to home to secondary lymphoid organs such as pancreatic lymph nodes. Our findings further demonstrate the potent ability of this monospecific T cell population to transfer rapidly and efficiently T1D to NOD.SCID recipient mice.
Isolation of diabetogenic CD4+ T cells from BDC2.5 mice is shown in Figure 2. Approximately 5 x 107 cells from pooled spleen and lymph n.......
T1D can be induced in recipient mice at varying efficiencies by adoptive transfer of whole spleen cells or T cell subsets from diabetic NOD mice or mice transgenic for TCRs derived from diabetogenic T cell clones. We report herein a reproducible method to induce T1D in recipient mice within two weeks at 100% incidence by transferring FACS-purified CD62L+ BDC2.5 transgenic CD4+ T cells into NOD.SCID mice.
Specific advantages of the BDC2.5 T cell transfer model described here include the very s.......
All mice were housed at the Penn State College of Medicine specific pathogen-free (SPF) facility in accordance with the guidelines of the Penn State Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.
The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.
We thank Drs. Robert Bonneau and Neil Christensen for helpful comments.
This work was supported by Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine funds.
....Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
Name of Reagent/Material | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
BDC 2.5 TCR transgenic NOD mice (NOD.Cg-Tg(TcrαBDC 2.5, TcrβBDC 2.5) | JAX | 004460 | |
NOD.SCID mice (NOD.CB17-Prkdcscid/J) | JAX | 001303 | |
Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM) | Themo Scientific | SH30022.01 | |
Bayer Diastix | Fisher Scientific | AM2803 | |
15 ml conical tubes | Falcon | 352095 | |
50 ml conical tubes | Falcon | 352070 | |
Sterile surgical tweezers | |||
Sterile small pair scissors | |||
Sterile large pair scissors | |||
70 μm cell strainers | Fisher Scientific | 22363548 | |
35 μm cell strainer cap tubes | BD Biosciences | 352235 | |
Ammonium-Chloride-Potassium (ACK) buffer | 0.15 M NH4Cl, 1 mM KHCO3, 0.1 mM Na2EDTA, pH 7.2 in dH2O | ||
BD FACSFlowTM sheath fluid | BD Biosciences | 342003 | |
FACS staining buffer | PBS, 0.2 mM EDTA, 0.5% BSA/FCS, filter sterilized | ||
Phase contrast microscope | |||
Trypan blue | |||
Hemocytometer | |||
Anti-CD4 (APC) mAb | Biolegend | 1005616 | clone RM4-5 |
Anti-TCR Vβ4 (FITC) mAb | BD Biosciences | 553365 | clone KT4 |
Anti-CD62L (PE) mAb | BD Biosciences | 553151 | clone MEL-14 |
Cell sorter | BD Biosciences | e.g. BD FACSAria III | |
Heat lamp | |||
Mouse restrainer | |||
1 ml syringes | Becton Dickinson | 309602 | |
18-1½ gauge needles (sterile) | Becton Dickinson | 305196 | |
27½ gauge needles (sterile) | Becton Dickinson | 305109 |
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