Pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes (T1D) involves various interactions between genetic and environmental factors. The gene encoding the co-stimulatory molecule CD137 is located within the Idd9.3 T1D susceptibility locus and contributes to diabetes progression in NOD mice. We have previously shown that CD137 expression in T cells has dual functions: CD4+CD137+ T cells negatively regulate T1D development while CD8+CD137+ T cells showed potent diabetogenecity. The protective function of CD137 in CD4+ T cells is likely due to the significant amounts of soluble CD137 (CD137) produced by Foxp3+ Tregs. The interaction between CD137 and its ligand (CD137L) induces two signaling pathways, forward one driven by CD137 and the reverse signaling mediated by CD137L, both of which modulate T cell function. Here, we study the impact of CD137L deficiency on T1D to gain further insight into disease pathogenesis. We successfully generated a mouse strain with the NOD background and knockout of the gene encoding CD137L (Tnfsf9) using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Relative to wild type NOD, Tnfsf9-/- mice showed significant delay in T1D development, less islet-infiltrating autoreactive CD8 T cells, reduced high-avidity IGRP autoreactive CD8 T cells in the spleen and pancreatic lymph node, and less inflamed islets. Interestingly, we detect significant increase in serum levels of sCD137. Furthermore, we could not detect differences in CD137+ Treg populations between NOD and Tnfsf9-/- mice. In bone marrow transfer experiments, CD137L deficiency in either hosts or donors was able to suppress T1D development. Tnfsf9-/- and wild type T cells showed similar capacity to induce T1D in NOD.Rag1-/- recipients. We are working on identifying the cellular source of increased sCD137 and the mechanism behind this elevation. We direct our efforts to understand how CD137-CD137L interaction can modulate T1D pathogenesis and how to translate the data from NOD mouse to understand the pathogenesis of human diabetes.

Disclosure

B. Foda: None. M.H. Forsberg: None. A.E. Ciecko: None. K.W. Mueller: None. A. Geurts: None. Y. Chen: None.

Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered. More information is available at http://www.diabetesjournals.org/content/license.