A NEW APPROACH IN TREATMENT OF INSULIN DEPENDENT AUTOIMMUNE DIABETES MELLITUS USING IL-10 TREATED DENDRITIC CELLS

Background: Insulin dependent diabetes is an autoimmune disease characterized as a T cell-mediated destruction of insulin-producing β cells. Dendritic cells (DCs) can either induce stimulating or regulatory functions of T cells depending on cytokines microenvironments. Methods: In this study DCs were generated from mouse bone marrow progenitors through culturing in the presence of granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) for 7 days followed by two other day treatments with IL-10 or LPS. The DCs were then pulsed with insulin peptide B 9-23 and their maturation markers and their ability to induce T cell responses and cytokine profiles were studied. Results: IL-10 treated DCs had an immature phenotype compared to LPS-treated DCs and expression of MHC-II in LPS-matured DCs was significantly higher than whom were treated with IL-10 (93% and 72% respectively, P<0.04). Although IL-10 like LPS-treated DCs were able to stimulate T cell proliferation, but the IFN-γ production was lower in IL-10 treated DCs (P<0.02). Conclusion: Using IL-10 treated DCs seems to be useful in prevention and treatment of autoimmune diabetes. However to clarify this hypothesis it needs to study these effects in animal models of insulin dependent diabetes.