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Identification and Characterization of micro RNA s Associated With Human β‐Cell Loss in a Mouse Model
Author(s) -
Roat R.,
Hossain M. M.,
Christopherson J.,
Free C.,
Jain S.,
Guay C.,
Regazzi R.,
Guo Z.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
american journal of transplantation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.89
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1600-6143
pISSN - 1600-6135
DOI - 10.1111/ajt.14073
Subject(s) - islet , medicine , transplantation , humanized mouse , in vivo , apoptosis , microrna , cancer research , cell , immunology , diabetes mellitus , immune system , endocrinology , biology , gene , biochemistry , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology
Currently there is no effective approach for monitoring early β‐cell loss during islet graft rejection following human islet transplantation (HIT). Due to ethical and technical constraints, it is difficult to directly study biomarkers of islet destruction in humans. Here, we established a humanized mouse model with induced human β‐cell death using adoptive lymphocyte transfer (ALT). Human islet grafts of ALT‐treated mice had perigraft lymphocyte infiltration, fewer insulin + β cells, and increased β‐cell apoptosis. Islet‐specific miR‐375 was used to validate our model, and expression of miR‐375 was significantly decreased in the grafts and increased in the circulation of ALT‐treated mice before hyperglycemia. A NanoString expression assay was further used to profile 800 human miRNAs in the human islet grafts, and the results were validated using quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction. We found that miR‐4454 and miR‐199a‐5p were decreased in the human islet grafts following ALT and increased in the circulation prior to hyperglycemia. These data demonstrate that our in vivo model of induced human β‐cell destruction is a robust method for identifying and characterizing circulating biomarkers, and suggest that miR‐4454 and miR‐199a‐5p can serve as novel biomarkers associated with early human β‐cell loss following HIT.