Pancreatic Ductal Cell Antigens Are Important in the Development of Invasive Insulitis in Non-Obese Diabetic Mice

Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease in which insulin producing beta cells of the pancreas are selectively destroyed. Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) expressed in peri-islet Schwann cells (pSCs) and in the ductal cells of the pancreas is one of the candidate autoantigens for T1D. Immune responses to GFAP expressing cell types precede the islet autoimmunity in Non-Obese Diabetic (NOD) mice. By removing MHC class I from GFAP expressing cell types, we tested the role of autoantigens presented by these cell types in the development of invasive insulitis. Our findings indicate that antigens expressed by pancreatic ductal cells are important in the development of invasive insulitis in NOD mice.