Human Clonal CD8 Autoreactivity to an IGRP Islet Epitope Shared between Mice and Men

摘要

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a multifactorial disease characterized by the infiltration and subsequent destruction of the pancreatic insulin-producingh β cells by autoreactive T cells. CD8~+ T cells play an essential role in this β cell destruction. However, little is known about the target antigens of CD8~+ T cells in human T1D patients. The aim of this study was to assess whether an epitope derived from the islet-specific glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic subunit-related protein (IGRP), IGRP_(265-273), which has recently been identified as a target in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice and is fully homologous to the human epitope, is a target of human diabetogenic CD8~+ T cells. We isolated a human CD8 T cell clone against this epitope, which confirms that this IGRP epitope is shared across species.