T-cell tolerance by clonal anergy in transgenic mice with nonlymphoid expression of MHC class II I-E.

We find that transgenic INS-I-E mice that express I-E on pancreatic β-cells, but not in the thymus or peripheral lymphoid organs, are tolerant to I-E but have not deleted Vβ5-and Vβ17a-bearing T cells. Moreover, whereas T-cell populations from nontransgenic mice proliferate in response to receptor crosslinking with Vβ5-and Vβ17a-specific antibodies, T cells from INS-I-E mice do not