Tunicamycin inhibits diabetes.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Autoimmune diseases are characterized by a breakdown of immunologic tolerance, and this breakdown can lead to life-threatening or lifelong disorders. Moreover; drugs that are used to treat these diseases are few in number and are associated with many serious adverse effects. METHODS: We used the rat insulin promoter-glycoprotein mouse model to analyze the role of tunicamycin in the process of autoimmune diabetes; the P14 mouse model to analyze the effect of tunicamycin on CD8(+) T cells; chop knockout mice to analyze the role of tunicamycin on an endoplasmic reticulum stress model; and fluorescence-activated cell sorting, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and histologic methods. RESULTS: We found that a single dose of tunicamycin reduced the activation and pancreatic infiltration of CD8(+) T cells. This activity delayed the incidence of virus-induced diabetes and improved survival rates. CONCLUSION: Tunicamycin may offer therapeutic opportunities for T cell-mediated autoimmune diseases such as diabetes.