Prevention and suppression of autoimmune pancreatic beta-cell destruction in BB rats by syngeneic lymphocytes obtained from long-term normoglycaemic donors.

To prove whether a cell-mediated mechanism is responsible for maintaining long-term normoglycaemia in BB/OK rats with a proved immune attack (insulitis, reduced Beta-cell volume), we transferred lymphocytes obtained from those rats into normoglycaemic diabetes-prone BB/OK rats or into diabetic BB/OK rats receiving a simultaneous syngeneic islet graft. Our results show the presence of a lymphocyte population in the long-term normoglycaemic BB/OK rats, which is able to arrest pancreatic Beta-cell destruction in diabetes-prone BB/OK rats detected by a decreased diabetes incidence following single lymphocyte transfusion. Syngeneic islets were destroyed by recurrence of the autoimmune process when transplanted into diabetic BB/OK rats. Lymphocytes obtained from long-term normoglycaemic BB/OK rats were able to protect the syngeneic BB/OK islet graft from autoimmune destruction in diabetic BB/OK rats, whereas allogeneic islet destruction was not prevented. The phenotype of the effective lymphocyte population is not yet clear, but it is negative for RT6. We conclude that the mechanism responsible for maintaining normoglycaemia in long-term normoglycaemic BB/OK rats is cell mediated, because this property can be transferred to prevent autoimmune destruction of pancreatic Beta cells.