In line with the increasing evidence claiming the central role of
innate over adaptive immune responses, a paradigm has been
proposed on the presence of functional heterogeneity of Mp. Murata
et al have divided Mp at least into two activated states based on
their icGSH [
1], and the role of intracellular redox status
of Mp in regulating T
H1/T
H2 balance has been
discussed widely [
2,
3,
4,
5,
6]. However, to the author's
knowledge, there is little information available in literature
about the redox status of Mp in diabetic
mice induced by MLD-STZ. In the present study, we conducted this
study to determine whether the redox status of Mp and their
cytokine production change during the development of diabetes in
BALB/c mice and, additionally, if the change of the redox status
of Mp is concomitant with the change of
T
H1/T
H2 skewing in the spleen or the thymus.
The results indicated that the peritoneal Mp were consistently
skewed to OMp dominance during the disease progression, tending to
produce declined cytokine expression of TNF-
α, IL-12, and
NO compared to those from nondiabetes controls. However, the
diabetic OMp phenotype showed its abnormalities somehow
characterized by its unchanged IL-6 levels and significantly
reduced phagocytic activity compared with the defined OMp. On the
other hand, the thymus cells and spleen cells exhibited a
different T
H1/T
H2 balance shift, with a
T
H1 type on the onset of diabetes, converting to
T
H2 phenotypes several weeks later after diabetes
occurred. The data reported here might imply that
multifactor dysfunction, rather than aberrant OMp alone, may cooperate to precipitate
T
H1/T
H2 imbalance of diabetic mice induced by MLD-STZ.
Streptozotocin (STZ), a potential source of oxidative stress, can
penetrate into the organism generating NO and thus inducing
genotoxicity [
11]. It has appeared that STZ treatment
generally induces an oxidative predominance in murine tissues,
including liver, kidney, heart, lungs, spleen, brain, muscles, and
pancreas, with decreased GSH values and increased lipid
peroxidation [
12]. We examined the redox status of the
peritoneal Mp in MLD-STZ diabetes model and gained the similar
results that OMp phenotype was dominant during the development of
diabetes, consistent with the progressive decrease in GSH
concentration of the serum (data not shown). This phenomenon is
compatible with the findings of Carmen that a significant decline
is observed in blood GSH content at the recent onset of type 1
diabetes patients, and progressive GSH depletion during diabetes
evolution [
13]. It is noteworthy that OMp induced by STZ
treatment is not completely in accordance with the defined OMp in
consideration of the rather unaltered IL-6 production. We presumed
that Mp from diabetic mice might be damaged resulting from the
toxic STZ, thus leading to an aberrant or “incomplete” OMp
accompanied by the lower GSH content. Though the pathogenic
mechanism of diabetic OMp remains elusive, one possibility is the
forced infiltration of Mp into pancreas or other issues by
modulating the chemotaxis of Mp. The redox status of Mp is
suggested to be a crucial determinant in the regulation of the
chemokine system. Saccani et al have described that
H
2O
2 and the GSH-depleting drug, buthionine
sulfoximine, can increase CCR2, CCR5, and CXCR4 mRNA expression to
different extents and the cell migration (3-fold) in response to
macrophage inflammatory protein-1beta in human monocytes
[
14]. Similar to it, a certain subset of Mp selectively
produces C-C chemokines [
15] and the redox status affects the
expression of adhesion molecules critical for trans-endothelial
migration of the inflammatory cell [
16].
There is a growing body of evidence that aberrant cytokine
production in Mp is part of a complex pathway mediating autoimmune
diabetes. However, previous studies exploring inflammatory cytokine
production by Mp have not always reported consistent results
[
10,
17,
18]. Our data showed the generally reduced cytokine
production of TNF-
α, IL-12, and NO from diabetic OMp upon in
vitro LPS (lipopolysaccharide) stimulation. However,
in consideration of the increasing peritoneal Mp count in the
diabetic mice, the total amount of each inflammatory mediator above
is significantly higher than that of the control mice (data not
shown). As larger amount of immune cells, including Mp, is also
found in the islets of Langerhans in autoimmune diabetes, it is
necessary to be determined whether the deficient cytokine expression
itself or its relatively excessive production is relevant to the pathogenesis in diabetic Mp.
Deficiencies in phagocytosis have been associated with and may
participate in the pathogenesis of both systemic and
organ-specific autoimmune diseases [
19]. In our animal model,
we also found a significant decline in the phagocytosis activity
of Mp, a possible outcome resulting from the oxidative status in
diabetic Mp [
20]. Yamada et al assessed the relationship
between the proportion of oxidative peritoneal exudate cells
(PEC) and the
β-cell destruction, and suggested
the proportion of the oxidative PEC as a novel marker of disease
activity [
21]. As clearance of dying cells is critical to the
control of inflammation, engulfment of cells dying by apoptosis
must occur prior to cell lysis to prevent the release of
intracellular contents and possibly the generation of new
antigens. So a defect in the phagocytosis may be contributory to
the initiation of autoimmunity.
A number of studies have correlated diabetes with T
H1 phenotype development
in the MLD-STZ diabetic animal model [
8,
22,
23,
24,
25]. However, similar to other models of type 1 diabetes, some reports
argued against this oversimplification. Muller et al demonstrated
that MLD-STZ stimulated the production of IL-4 and IL-10, but
significantly reduced IFN-
γ and TNF-
α levels in
islets of BALB/c mice of both genders [
26]. Similarly,
Sitasawad indicated that both IFN-
γ and IL-4 mRNA
expression increased in the MLD-STZ diabetic pancreas [
27].
Ins-IFN-
γ transgenic mice showed apparent resistance to
the induction of severe diabetes after STZ treatment compared to
the control BALB/c mice [
28]. In our study, the Th
polarization in the spleen or the thymus varied during disease
progression, with T
H1 phenotype dominant on the onset of
disease converting to T
H2 phenotype several weeks after
diabetes occurred. The factors dictating polarization to
T
H1 phenotypes at the early stage of diabetes remain
elusive. Also, it is uncertain whether the OMp participate in the
conversion of T
H1 to T
H2 along with disease
progression. Previous study in NOD mice showed a similar
T
H1/T
H2 conversion while with a consistent
sequential change of RMp/OMp skewing [
2]. In contrast to the
change style, another report suggested a converse
T
H1/T
H2 skewing in NOD or BB model, as
T
H2-mediated attack is responsible for the early phase
of IDDM, while T
H1-driven responses are responsible for
the persistent and sustained attacks [
29]. These findings together may suggest that the T
H1/T
H2 shift
contributes to a pathological process, which may be dictated by
multiple factors, which would include the factors precipitating
the disease, the local APC (antigen-presenting cell) function, and
the genetic background of a given strain.
Besides the controversial T
H1/T
H2
polarization, there have been also conflicting reports regarding
lymphocyte proliferative responses to mitogen either in NOD mice
or in MLD-STZ-induced diabetic mice [
9,
30,
31]. Here we
showed a higher proliferative response of T cells (unfractionated
splenocytes or thymocytes) in the diabetic mice, though not always
significant, compared to the controls, in accordance with the
exuberant cytokine production. One possibility is the toxic effect
of STZ treatment on the subset of lymphocytes. Further experiments
should be conducted to examine the expression of cell surface
markers, especillay the regulatory T-cell (Treg) marker of
CD4
+CD25
+, for a loss in the number of Treg may
contribute to the highly activated proliferative response. It is
also under discussion whether the defective function in Mp or
other APC might lead to the defective stimulation of Treg cells,
thus affecting the proliferative response of lymphocytes
[
32]. Interestingly, a recent report suggested that the
oxidation of the cellular thiol pool in T cells may play a role as
an amplifying mechanism for TCR/CD3 signals in immune response
[
33]. It may thus provide a new insight into the abnormal
lymphocyte functions under the oxidative stress in MLD-STZ-induced
diabetes. Therefore, to clarify this point, experiments exploring
the alteration of lymphocyte function with altered icGSH in
lymphocytes of the STZ-treated mice should be carried out in the future.
In conclusion, our results presented the progressive OMp phenotype
in the STZ-induced diabetic mice, and the change of
TH1/TH2 skewing during the disease progression
in the thymus and spleen. The data here implied that OMp may be
relevant in the development of type 1 diabetes, however, it is not
likely the only factor regulating the TH1/TH2
balance in MLD-STZ-induced diabetic mice. Previous studies
regarding the pathogenesis of oxidative stress mainly focus on the
β-cell destruction by reactive oxygen species (ROS).
However, our study showed that the oxidative stress induced by STZ
treatment could convert the peritoneal Mp to OMp phenotype with a
generalized decrease in cytokine production and defective
function. In addition, significant difference was also observed in
either the blastogenesis of the splenocytes or the cytokine
expression profile in the thymus and the spleen during the
development of diabetes. This implies that the STZ-treatment
damage in the immune cells besides Mp mediated by
oxidative stress might also involve in the pathogenesis of type 1
diabetes. In future studies it is needed to be elucidated that to
which extent the abnormal immune cells contribute to the
pathogenesis and whether the redox regulation of the immune cells
could prevent the incidence of type 1 diabetes.