Genetics and Genomics Commons^™

Multiple Immuno-Regulatory Defects In Type-1 Diabetes, Anjli Kukreja, Giulia Cost, John Marker, Chenhui Zhang, Karen Lin-Su, Zhong Sun, Svetlana Ten, Maureen M. Sanz, Mark Exley, Brian Wilson, Steven Porcelli

Faculty Works: Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Studies

Susceptibility to immune-mediated diabetes (IMD) in humans and NOD mice involves their inherently defective T cell immunoregulatory abilities. We have followed natural killer (NK) T cell numbers in patients with IMD, both by flow cytometry using mAbs to the characteristic junctions found in the T cell receptors of this cell subtype, and by semiquantitative RT-PCR for the corresponding transcripts. Both before and after clinical onset, the representation of these cells in patients’ PBMCs is reduced. We also report low numbers of resting CD4+ CD25+ T cells in IMD patients, a subset of T cells shown to have important immunoregulatory functions …