Stress promotes autoimmunity in experimental type 1 diabetes.

SANCHEZ MB; MORENO-SOSA MT; BONACCORSO MARINELLI MP; CABRERA RJ; JAHN GA; MACKERN OBERTI JP

Mar del Plata

Congreso; LXIII Reunión Científica Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica; 2018

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica

Autoimmune diseases are multifactorial disorders in which environment,hormones and genetics are involved. Immune cells canbe modulated by several endocrine mediators, Prolactin (PRL) andglucocorticoids among them. It is known that stress influences theimmune system; however the role of psychological stress exposureon autoimmunity is still controversial. Our aim was to investigatewhether chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) enhances developmentof Type 1 Diabetes autoimmunity in NOD mice. For this, NOD andBALB/c female mice were exposed to CUS consisting in restraint,isolation, forced swim, 24 hours light and tilting the home cage at 45°inclination for 24 hours, during 3 months. We found an increase inCD45+ cell infiltration of the pancreas mainly conformed by CD4+ Tcells in CUS compared to untreated (UT) NOD mice (UT 0,78±0,12vs CUS 2,17±0,50; t test; p< 0,05). Furthermore, the CUS group displayeda 3,2 fold increase in CD4+ T cell infiltration of the pancreascompared to the UT group (UT 0,207±0,039 vs CUS 0,75±0,19; p