Autoimmunity without diabetes in transgenic mice expressing beta cell-specific CD86, but not CD80: parameters that trigger progression to diabetes.

Nucleic acid vaccine-induced immune responses require CD28 costimulation and are regulated by CTLA4.

Immunization with plasmids expressing specific genes (DNA or nucleic acid vaccination (NAV)) elicits robust humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. The mechanisms involved in T cell activation by NAV are incompletely characterized. We have examined the costimulatory requirements of NAV. CD28-deficient mice did not mount Ab or CTL responses following i.m. immunization with eukaryotic express...

Autoimmunity caused by ignorant CD8+ T cells is transient and depends on avidity.

RIP-Kb mice, which express H-2Kb (Kb) molecules on their pancreatic beta cells, were used to examine the requirements for induction of autoimmune diabetes caused by CD8+ T cells. Previous studies showed that when these mice were crossed to mice expressing a Kb-specific TCR transgene, those CD8+ cells expressing the highest density of the transgenic TCR (presumably the highest avidity cells) wer...

Preferential T cell Expansion by Artificial Antigen Presenting Cells Expressing 4-1BBL Alone or in Combination with CD80 or CD86

Expression of IGF-I in pancreatic islets prevents lymphocytic infiltration and protects mice from type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetic patients are diagnosed when beta-cell destruction is almost complete. Reversal of type 1 diabetes will require beta-cell regeneration from islet cell precursors and prevention of recurring autoimmunity. IGF-I expression in beta-cells of streptozotocin (STZ)-treated transgenic mice regenerates the endocrine pancreas by increasing beta-cell replication and neogenesis. Here, we exa...

Co-Transplantation of VEGF-Expressing Human Embryonic Stem Cell Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Enhance Islet Revascularization in Diabetic Nude Mice

Background: Pancreatic islet transplantation has emerged as a promising treatment for type I diabetes. However, its efficacy is severely hampered due to poor islet engraftment and revascularization, which have been resulted to partially loss of transplanted islets. It has been shown that local delivery of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) could accelerate transplanted islet revasculari...