Daniel, CarolinWeigmann, BennoBronson, Roderickvon Boehmer, Harald2012-05-012011Daniel, Carolin, Benno Weigmann, Roderick Bronson, and Harald von Boehmer. 2011. Prevention of type 1 diabetes in mice by tolerogenic vaccination with a strong agonist insulin mimetope. Journal of Experimental Medicine 208(7): 1501-1510.0022-1007http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:8646759Type 1 diabetes (T1D) results from the destruction of insulin-secreting pancreatic cells by autoreactive T cells. Insulin is an essential target of the autoimmune attack. Insulin epitopes recognized by diabetogenic T cell clones bind poorly to the class II I-A\(^{g7}\) molecules of nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice, which results in weak agonistic activity of the peptide MHC complex. Here, we describe a strongly agonistic insulin mimetope that effectively converts naive T cells into Foxp3\(^+\) regulatory T cells in vivo, thereby completely preventing T1D in NOD mice. In contrast, natural insulin epitopes are ineffective. Subimmunogenic vaccination with strongly agonistic insulin mimetopes might represent a novel strategy to prevent T1D in humans at risk for the disease.en-USJournal Article2012-05-0110.1084/jem.20110574