CD4⁺ T Helper Cells Play a Key Role in Maintaining Diabetogenic CD8⁺ T Cell Function in the Pancreas.

ABSTRACT: Autoreactive CD8⁺ and CD4⁺ T cells have been assigned independent key roles in the destruction of insulin-producing beta cells resulting in type 1 diabetes. Although CD4 help for the generation of efficient CD8⁺ T cell responses in lymphoid tissue has been extensively described, whether these two cell populations cooperate in islet destruction in situ remains unclear. By using intravital 2-photon microscopy in a mouse model of diabetes, we visualized both effector T cell populations in the pancreas during disease onset. CD4⁺ T helper cells displayed a much higher arrest in the exocrine tissue than islet-specific CD8⁺ T cells. This increased arrest was major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II-dependent and locally correlat

SUBMITTER: Espinosa-Carrasco G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5778106 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature