Figure 6.

CD4^loCD40^hi T cells induce diabetes. (A) CD4^loCD40^hi and CD4hiCD40lo T cells were sorted from spleens of diabetic NOD mice. Purified CD4^loCD40^hi or CD4^hiCD40^lo T cells were injected i.p. 1 × 10⁷ cells per injection into 9-day-old NOD.scid recipients; a second injection of 1 × 10⁷ cells was made 1 week later. None of the control CD4^hiCD40^lo recipients (0/4 and 0/2) became diabetic over the 45-day experimental period. One recipient of diabetic NOD CD4^loCD40^hi T cells became diabetic at 22 days after injection. The graph represents the percentage of animals from two different experiments that became diabetic over a 45-day experimental period. (B) CD4^loCD40^hi and CD4^hiCD40^lo T cells were isolated from spleens of diabetic BDC-2.5TCR-Tg mice, and a single injection of 1 × 107 cells was made. One of three recipients of TCR-Tg CD4^loCD40^hi T cells became diabetic at 5 days, and two others became diabetic at 11 days (disease incidence 3/3). None of the CD4^hiCD40^lo control mice became diabetic. By combining the adoptive transfer experiments and performing a χ² test on diabetes of the tested mice, the data achieve a P < 0.05.