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Collin R, Dugas V, Pelletier AN, Chabot-Roy G, Lesage S. Evidence of genetic epistasis in autoimmune diabetes susceptibility revealed by mouse congenic sublines. Immunogenetics 2021; 73:307-319. [PMID: 33755757 DOI: 10.1007/s00251-021-01214-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2020] [Accepted: 03/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Susceptibility to autoimmune diabetes is a complex genetic trait. Linkage analyses exploiting the NOD mouse, which spontaneously develops autoimmune diabetes, have proved to be a useful tool for the characterization of some of these traits. In a linkage analysis using 3A9 TCR transgenic mice on both B10.BR and NOD.H2k backgrounds, we previously determined that both the Idd2 and Idd13 loci were linked to the proportion of immunoregulatory CD4-CD8- double negative (DN) T cells. In addition to Idd2 and Idd13, five other loci showed weak linkage to the proportion of DN T cells. Of interest, in an interim analysis, a locus on chromosome 12 is linked to DN T cell proportion in both the spleen and the lymph nodes. To determine the impact of this locus on DN T cells, we generated two congenic sublines, which we named Chr12P and Chr12D for proximal and distal, respectively. While 3A9 TCR:insHEL NOD.H2k-Chr12D mice were protected from diabetes, 3A9 TCR:insHEL NOD.H2k-Chr12P showed an increase in diabetes incidence. Yet, the proportion of DN T cells was similar to the parental 3A9 TCR NOD.H2k strain for both of these congenic sublines. A genome-wide two dimensional LOD score analysis reveals genetic epistasis between chromosome 12 and the Idd13 locus. Altogether, this study identified further complex genetic interactions in defining the proportion of DN T cells, along with evidence of genetic epistasis within a locus on chromosome 12 influencing autoimmune susceptibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roxanne Collin
- Cellular Immunogenetics laboratory, Division of Immunology-Oncology, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, H1T 2M4, Canada
- Département de microbiologie, infectiologie et immunologie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3J7, Canada
- CellCarta, 201 President Kennedy Avenue, Suite 3900, Montreal, Quebec, H2X 3Y7, Canada
| | - Véronique Dugas
- Cellular Immunogenetics laboratory, Division of Immunology-Oncology, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, H1T 2M4, Canada
- Département de microbiologie, infectiologie et immunologie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3J7, Canada
| | | | - Geneviève Chabot-Roy
- Cellular Immunogenetics laboratory, Division of Immunology-Oncology, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, H1T 2M4, Canada
| | - Sylvie Lesage
- Cellular Immunogenetics laboratory, Division of Immunology-Oncology, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, H1T 2M4, Canada.
- Département de microbiologie, infectiologie et immunologie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3J7, Canada.
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Autoimmune-Disease-Prone NOD Mice Help To Reveal a New Genetic Locus for Reducing Pulmonary Disease Caused by Mycoplasma pulmonis. Infect Immun 2018; 86:IAI.00812-17. [PMID: 29263105 DOI: 10.1128/iai.00812-17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2017] [Accepted: 12/07/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Mycoplasmas are bacterial pathogens of a range of animals, including humans, and are a common cause of respiratory disease. However, the host genetic factors that affect resistance to infection or regulate the resulting pulmonary inflammation are not well defined. We and others have previously demonstrated that nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice can be used to investigate disease loci that affect bacterial infection and autoimmune diabetes. Here we show that NOD mice are more susceptible than C57BL/6 (B6) mice to infection with Mycoplasma pulmonis, a natural model of pulmonary mycoplasmosis. The lungs of infected NOD mice had higher loads of M. pulmonis and more severe inflammatory lesions. Moreover, congenic NOD mice that harbored different B6-derived chromosomal intervals enabled identification and localization of a new mycoplasmosis locus, termed Mpr2, on chromosome 13. These congenic NOD mice demonstrated that the B6 allele for Mpr2 reduced the severity of pulmonary inflammation caused by infection with M. pulmonis and that this was associated with altered cytokine and chemokine concentrations in the infected lungs. Mpr2 also colocalizes to the same genomic interval as Listr2 and Idd14, genetic loci linked to listeriosis resistance and autoimmune diabetes susceptibility, respectively, suggesting that allelic variation within these loci may affect the development of both infectious and autoimmune disease.
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Chen YG, Mathews CE, Driver JP. The Role of NOD Mice in Type 1 Diabetes Research: Lessons from the Past and Recommendations for the Future. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) 2018; 9:51. [PMID: 29527189 PMCID: PMC5829040 DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2018.00051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
For more than 35 years, the NOD mouse has been the primary animal model for studying autoimmune diabetes. During this time, striking similarities to the human disease have been uncovered. In both species, unusual polymorphisms in a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecule confer the most disease risk, disease is caused by perturbations by the same genes or different genes in the same biological pathways and that diabetes onset is preceded by the presence of circulating autoreactive T cells and autoantibodies that recognize many of the same islet antigens. However, the relevance of the NOD model is frequently challenged due to past failures translating therapies from NOD mice to humans and because the appearance of insulitis in mice and some patients is different. Nevertheless, the NOD mouse remains a pillar of autoimmune diabetes research for its usefulness as a preclinical model and because it provides access to invasive procedures as well as tissues that are rarely procured from patients or controls. The current article is focused on approaches to improve the NOD mouse by addressing reasons why immune therapies have failed to translate from mice to humans. We also propose new strategies for mixing and editing the NOD genome to improve the model in ways that will better advance our understanding of human diabetes. As proof of concept, we report that diabetes is completely suppressed in a knock-in NOD strain with a serine to aspartic acid substitution at position 57 in the MHC class II Aβ. This supports that similar non-aspartic acid substitutions at residue 57 of variants of the human class II HLA-DQβ homolog confer diabetes risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Guang Chen
- Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
| | - Clayton E. Mathews
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
| | - John P. Driver
- Department of Animal Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
- *Correspondence: John P. Driver,
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Sleeping Beauty Transposon Mutagenesis as a Tool for Gene Discovery in the NOD Mouse Model of Type 1 Diabetes. G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS 2015; 5:2903-11. [PMID: 26438296 PMCID: PMC4683661 DOI: 10.1534/g3.115.021709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
A number of different strategies have been used to identify genes for which genetic variation contributes to type 1 diabetes (T1D) pathogenesis. Genetic studies in humans have identified >40 loci that affect the risk for developing T1D, but the underlying causative alleles are often difficult to pinpoint or have subtle biological effects. A complementary strategy to identifying "natural" alleles in the human population is to engineer "artificial" alleles within inbred mouse strains and determine their effect on T1D incidence. We describe the use of the Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon mutagenesis system in the nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse strain, which harbors a genetic background predisposed to developing T1D. Mutagenesis in this system is random, but a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-polyA gene trap within the SB transposon enables early detection of mice harboring transposon-disrupted genes. The SB transposon also acts as a molecular tag to, without additional breeding, efficiently identify mutated genes and prioritize mutant mice for further characterization. We show here that the SB transposon is functional in NOD mice and can produce a null allele in a novel candidate gene that increases diabetes incidence. We propose that SB transposon mutagenesis could be used as a complementary strategy to traditional methods to help identify genes that, when disrupted, affect T1D pathogenesis.
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Simpfendorfer KR, Strugnell RA, Brodnicki TC, Wijburg OLC. Increased autoimmune diabetes in pIgR-deficient NOD mice is due to a "Hitchhiking" interval that refines the genetic effect of Idd5.4. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0121979. [PMID: 25835383 PMCID: PMC4383422 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2014] [Accepted: 02/05/2015] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Selective breeding to introduce a gene mutation from one mouse strain onto the genetic background of another strain invariably produces “hitchhiking” (i.e. flanking) genomic intervals, which may independently affect a disease trait of interest. To investigate a role for the polymeric Ig receptor in autoimmune diabetes, a congenic nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse strain was generated that harbors a Pigr null allele derived from C57BL/6 (B6) mice. These pIgR-deficient NOD mice exhibited increased serum IgA along with an increased diabetes incidence. However, the Pigr null allele was encompassed by a relatively large “hitchhiking” genomic interval that was derived from B6 mice and overlaps Idd5.4, a susceptibility locus for autoimmune diabetes. Additional congenic NOD mouse strains, harboring smaller B6-derived intervals, confirmed Idd5.4 independently of the other three known susceptibility loci on chromosome 1, and further localized Idd5.4 to an interval proximal to Pigr. Moreover, these congenic NOD mice showed that B6 mice harbor a more diabetogenic allele than NOD mice for this locus. The smallest B6-derived interval encompassing the Pigr null allele may, however, confer a small degree of protection against diabetes, but this protection appears to be dependent on the absence of the diabetogenic B6 allele for Idd5.4. This study provides another example of the potential hidden effects of “hitchhiking" genomic intervals and how such intervals can be used to localize disease susceptibility loci.
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MESH Headings
- Age Factors
- Alleles
- Animals
- Chromosome Mapping
- Chromosomes, Mammalian/chemistry
- Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/genetics
- Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/immunology
- Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/pathology
- Disease Models, Animal
- Female
- Genetic Loci
- Genetic Predisposition to Disease
- Genome
- Humans
- Immunoglobulin A/blood
- Immunoglobulin A/genetics
- Male
- Mice
- Mice, Inbred C57BL
- Mice, Inbred NOD
- Mice, Transgenic
- Receptors, Polymeric Immunoglobulin/deficiency
- Receptors, Polymeric Immunoglobulin/genetics
- Receptors, Polymeric Immunoglobulin/immunology
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Affiliation(s)
- Kim R. Simpfendorfer
- The Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne at The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Richard A. Strugnell
- The Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne at The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- The Australian Bacterial Pathogenesis Program, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Thomas C. Brodnicki
- Immunology & Diabetes Unit, St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
| | - Odilia L. C. Wijburg
- The Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne at The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- The Australian Bacterial Pathogenesis Program, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- * E-mail:
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Collin R, Dugas V, Chabot-Roy G, Salem D, Zahn A, Di Noia JM, Rauch J, Lesage S. Autoimmunity and antibody affinity maturation are modulated by genetic variants on mouse chromosome 12. J Autoimmun 2015; 58:90-9. [PMID: 25623266 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaut.2015.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2014] [Revised: 01/12/2015] [Accepted: 01/13/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Autoimmune diseases result from a break in immune tolerance leading to an attack on self-antigens. Autoantibody levels serve as a predictive tool for the early diagnosis of many autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes. We find that a genetic locus on mouse chromosome 12 influences the affinity maturation of antibodies as well as autoantibody production. Thus, we generated a NOD.H2(k) congenic strain bearing B10 alleles at the locus comprised within the D12Mit184 and D12Mit12 markers, which we named NOD.H2(k)-Chr12. We determined the biological relevance of the Chr12 locus on the autoimmune process using an antigen-specific TCR transgenic autoimmune mouse model. Specifically, the 3A9 TCR transgene, which recognizes a peptide from hen egg lysozyme (HEL) in the context of I-A(k), and the HEL transgene, which is expressed under the rat-insulin promoter (iHEL), were bred into the NOD.H2(k)-Chr12 congenic strain. In the resulting 3A9 TCR:iHEL NOD.H2(k)-Chr12 mice, we observed a significant decrease in diabetes incidence as well as a decrease in both the quantity and affinity of HEL-specific IgG autoantibodies relative to 3A9 TCR:iHEL NOD.H2(k) mice. Notably, the decrease in autoantibodies due to the Chr12 locus was not restricted to the TCR transgenic model, as it was also observed in the non-transgenic NOD.H2(k) setting. Of importance, antibody affinity maturation upon immunization and re-challenge was also impeded in NOD.H2(k)-Chr12 congenic mice relative to NOD.H2(k) mice. Together, these results demonstrate that a genetic variant(s) present within the Chr12 locus plays a global role in modulating antibody affinity maturation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roxanne Collin
- Immunology-Oncology Section, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montréal, Québec, H1T 2M4, Canada; Département de Microbiologie, Infectiologie et Immunologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3J7, Canada.
| | - Véronique Dugas
- Immunology-Oncology Section, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montréal, Québec, H1T 2M4, Canada; Département de Microbiologie, Infectiologie et Immunologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3J7, Canada; Mitacs, Computer Research Institute of Montreal, Montréal, Québec, H3N 1M3, Canada.
| | - Geneviève Chabot-Roy
- Immunology-Oncology Section, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montréal, Québec, H1T 2M4, Canada.
| | - David Salem
- Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montréal, Québec, H3G 1A4, Canada.
| | - Astrid Zahn
- Division of Immunology and Viral Infections, Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, H2W 1R7, Canada.
| | - Javier M Di Noia
- Division of Immunology and Viral Infections, Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, H2W 1R7, Canada; Département de Médecine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, H3T 1J4, Canada.
| | - Joyce Rauch
- Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montréal, Québec, H3G 1A4, Canada.
| | - Sylvie Lesage
- Immunology-Oncology Section, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montréal, Québec, H1T 2M4, Canada; Département de Microbiologie, Infectiologie et Immunologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3J7, Canada.
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