HLA and Insulin-Dependent Diabetes. A protective perspective

This article presents a model for the HLA effect in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) that is almost the mirror image of a model suggested by Nepom. In the Nepom model, the products of certain HLA alleles are associated with IDDM because they bind and present a specific peptide or peptides so as to induce an immune response to pancreatic β-cells; certain other alleles can protect against IDDM if they compete strongly for binding of the diabetogenic peptide. My model focuses instead on the failure of the immune system to maintain tolerance to pancreatic β-cells. I suggest that the HLA alleles negatively associated with IDDM (e.g., DR2 and DQw1) produce products with high affinity for certain β-cell peptide or peptides needed to establish and maintain tolerance to β-cells, whereas the alleles that are common in IDDM (e.g., DR3, DR4, and DQw8) produce products that have low affinity for the tolerogenic peptide or peptides or that bind the peptide or peptides in the wrong orientation or configuration for establishing tolerance. I also discuss the multiplicity of HLA loci, alleles, and amino acids contributing to IDDM and the fact that the associations of specific loci, alleles, and even genotypes with IDDM depend not only on their intrinsic properties but also on various population parameters.