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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007/1997/10/1059/ $5.00
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 186, Number 7, October 6, 1997 1059-1075


Articles

A Mechanism for the Major Histocompatibility Complex–linked Resistance to Autoimmunity

Dennis Schmidt, Joan Verdaguer, Nuzhat Averill, and Pere Santamaria

From the Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and Julia McFarlane Diabetes Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Health Sciences Centre, The University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada

Certain major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II haplotypes encode elements providing either susceptibility or dominant resistance to the development of spontaneous autoimmune diseases via mechanisms that remain undefined. Here we show that a pancreatic beta cell–reactive, I-Ag7–restricted, transgenic TCR that is highly diabetogenic in nonobese diabetic mice (H-2g7) undergoes thymocyte negative selection in diabetes-resistant H-2g7/b, H-2g7/k, H-2g7/q, and H-2g7/nb1 NOD mice by engaging antidiabetogenic MHC class II molecules on thymic bone marrow–derived cells, independently of endogenous superantigens. Thymocyte deletion is complete in the presence of I-Ab, I-Ak + I-Ek or I-Anb1 + I-Enb1 molecules, partial in the presence of I-Aq or I-Ak molecules alone, and absent in the presence of I-As molecules. Mice that delete the transgenic TCR develop variable degrees of insulitis that correlate with the extent of thymocyte deletion, but are invariably resistant to diabetes development. These results provide an explanation as to how protective MHC class II genes carried on one haplotype can override the genetic susceptibility to an autoimmune disease provided by allelic MHC class II genes carried on a second haplotype.


Address correspondence to Dr. Pere Santamaria, Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine. The University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Dr. NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 4N1. Phone: 403-220-8735; FAX: 403-270-8520; E-mail:psantama{at}acs.ucalgary.ca

J. Verdaguer was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from CIRIT (Comissió Interdepartamental de Reçerca i Innovació Tecnològica, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain). P. Santamaria is a scholar of the Medical Research Council of Canada. This research was supported by a grant from the Medical Research Council of Canada.

1 Abbreviations used in this paper: 4.1-F1, TCR-{alpha}/β–transgenic F1; β2m, β2 microglobulin; Asp, aspartic acid; B, C57BL/6; C, C58/J; CM, complete medium; IDDM, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus; N or NOD, nonobese diabetic; S, SJL/J; vSAg, virus superantigen.

D. Schmidt and J. Verdaguer contributed equally to this work.


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