Imogen 38: a novel 38-kD islet mitochondrial autoantigen recognized by T cells from a newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic patient.

Cell-mediated autoimmune attack directed against islet proteins of approximately 38 kD in size has been associated with type 1 diabetes. A novel murine cDNA encoding an antigen of this size was cloned using a screening procedure based on the proliferative response of a human diabetic T cell clone (1C6) to a recombinant antigen epitope library. Membrane preparations from COS 7 cells transfected with the full-length 1,267-bp cDNA elicited a proliferative response from the reporter T cells comparable to that of the defined peptide epitope and native insulinoma antigen. In vitro translation and transfection experiments suggested that the protein is initially synthesized as a 44-kD protein and then processed to the native 38-kD form through the proteolytic removal of a 54-aa NH2-terminal mitochondrial targeting sequence. Differential centrifugation, Percoll density gradient centrifugation, and immunofluorescence studies confirmed localization of the antigen to mitochondria. Northern blot, Western blot, and 1C6 T cell proliferation assays showed that, although imogen 38 was more highly expressed in beta cell than alpha cell lines, it was also present in other tissues. It is concluded that imogen 38 may be a target for bystander autoimmune attack in diabetes rather than a primary autoantigen.

A subtractive cloning approach to the identification of mRNAs specifically expressed in pancreatic beta-cells.

A polymerase chain reaction-based subtractive hybridization procedure was applied to cDNAs prepared from mouse insulinoma (beta TC3) and glucagonoma (alpha TC2) cell lines to construct a library of cDNAs that are highly expressed in pancreatic beta-cells. An analysis of 555 randomly chosen clones in the library showed that 80 were derived from abundant mRNAs and were accounted for by 29 distinct sequences. Of these, 17 were identical or homologous to known mammalian cDNAs or expressed sequence tags. Genes known to be highly expressed in beta-cells were represented at a high frequency, namely insulin (15 of 80 clones), islet amyloid polypeptide (8 of 80 clones), proinsulin convertase 1 (6 of 80 clones), and neuropeptide Y (2 of 80 clones). Many of the novel cDNA sequences that were highly represented in the library showed a relative specificity to beta-cells compared with other tissues, including glucagonoma, liver, kidney, brain, 3T3 fibroblasts, and AtT20 corticotrophs, and warrant further investigation. When combined with functional or immunological screening procedures, the approach will be useful for the isolation of beta-cell-specific molecules for immunological and genetic investigations of beta-cell function and pathology.

Development of a procedure for the direct cloning of T-cell epitopes using bacterial expression systems.

Although single bacterial recombinant antigens have been used successfully to stimulate individual T-cell clones and elicit recall responses in peripheral lymphocytes, the broader use of molecular cloning systems for the identification of autoantigens recognised by the cellular arm of the immune system has met with only limited success. In a systematic approach to address this problem, a series of bacterial expression vectors were examined for their potential use as cloning vectors to elicit a proliferative response in vitro from a non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse T-cell clone which recognises the immunodominant ovalbumin epitope (aa 323-339). The use of the vector pRSET, which produces a hexa-histidine tagged fusion protein, was confounded by non-specific responses to bacterial protein contaminants. pGEX, which generates a glutathione-S-transferase hybrid, avoided this problem but suffered from the disadvantage that a universally applicable purification procedure for the hybrid antigen could not be easily developed. A practical screening protocol was developed using the pUEX expression system (beta-galactosidase hybrid) and purification based upon electroelution of the hybrid protein from purified inclusion bodies subjected to sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). This system can be used to screen expression libraries for the detection of T-cell epitopes provided that the T-cell clones give low background responses to irrelevant pUEX recombinant proteins. Low abundance antigens may be obtained using this system in combination with subtractive hybridisation to construct cDNA libraries enriched in the target antigen.

Population structure in the Mediterranean basin: a Y chromosome perspective.

The Mediterranean region has been characterised by a number of pre-historical and historical demographic events whose legacy on the current genetic landscape is still a matter of debate. In order to investigate the degree of population structure across the Mediterranean, we have investigated Y chromosome variation in a large dataset of Mediterranean populations, 11 of which are first described here. Our analyses identify four main clusters in the Mediterranean that can be labelled as North Africa, Arab, Central-East and West Mediterranean. In particular, Near Eastern samples tend to separate according to the presence of Arab Y chromosome lineages, suggesting that the Arab expansion played a major role in shaping the current genetic structuring within the Fertile Crescent.

T-cell epitope analysis using subtracted expression libraries (TEASEL): application to a 38-kDA autoantigen recognized by T cells from an insulin-dependent diabetic patient.

Studies on circulating T cells and antibodies in newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic patients and rodent models of autoimmune diabetes suggest that beta-cell membrane proteins of 38 kDa may be important molecular targets of autoimmune attack. Biochemical approaches to the isolation and identification of the 38-kDa autoantigen have been hampered by the restricted availability of islet tissue and the low abundance of the protein. A procedure of epitope analysis for CD4+ T cells using subtracted expression libraries (TEASEL) was developed and used to clone a 70-amino acid pancreatic beta-cell peptide incorporating an epitope recognized by a 38-kDa-reactive CD4+ T-cell clone (1C6) isolated from a human diabetic patient. The minimal epitope was mapped to a 10-amino acid synthetic peptide containing a DR1 consensus binding motif. Data base searches did not reveal the identity of the protein, though a weak homology to the bacterial superantigens SEA (Streptococcus pyogenes exotoxin A) and SEB (Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B) (23% identity) was evident. The TEASEL procedure might be used to identify epitopes of other autoantigens recognized by CD4+ T cells in diabetes as well as be more generally applicable to the study low-abundance autoantigens in other tissue-specific autoimmune diseases.