An autoimmune stem-like CD8 T cell population drives type 1 diabetes.

ABSTRACT: CD8 T cell-mediated autoimmune diseases result from the breakdown of self-tolerance mechanisms in autoreactive CD8 T cells¹. How autoimmune T cell populations arise and are sustained, and the molecular programmes defining the autoimmune T cell state, are unknown. In type 1 diabetes, β-cell-specific CD8 T cells destroy insulin-producing β-cells. Here we followed the fate of β-cell-specific CD8 T cells in non-obese diabetic mice throughout the course of type 1 diabetes. We identified a stem-like autoimmune progenitor population in the pancreatic draining lymph node (pLN), which self-renews and gives rise to pLN autoimmune mediators. pLN autoimmune mediators migrate to the pancreas, where they differentiate further and destroy β-cells. Whereas transplantation of as few as 20 autoi

SUBMITTER: Gearty SV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9315050 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature