Low-Dose Streptozocin-Induced Autoimmune Diabetes in Islet Transplantation Model

An islet transplant model was used to gain further insight into the immunologic mechanisms involved in low-dose streptozocin (STZ)-induced diabetes. As shown by others, male C57BL/KsJ mice developed diabetes and insulitis after five daily injections of STZ (40 mg · kg⁻¹ · day⁻¹). Syngeneic islet transplants beneath the renal capsule developed insulitis when the islets were transplanted 10–14 days before the daily injections of STZ. In contrast, insulitis of the grafts did not occur when the syngeneic transplants were done 3 days after the five daily injections of STZ. If the donor islets were incubated in vitro with 0.5 mg/ml STZ for 1 h at 37°C and then transplanted after the low-dose STZ administration of the recipients, then a definite insulitis was present in the syngeneic transplants. These findings indicated that this brief exposure to STZ in vitro was sufficient to permit immunologic recognition of the grafts. In vitro STZ-exposed islets transplanted into high-dose STZ-induced diabetic mice also developed insulitis, whereas STZ-exposed islets transplanted into alloxan-induced diabetic mice did not. Donor islets incubated in vitro with STZ and transplanted into unexposed mice did not develop insulitis in the grafts. Thus, preexposure of the recipient to STZ is essential to the development of insulitis within in vitro STZ-exposed islet grafts. This is also specific to islets because in vitro STZ-exposed thyroid tissue transplanted into low-dose STZ recipients failed to exhibit a thyroiditis. These data are consistent with the idea that STZ immunologically alters the β-cell by inducing an antigenic change.