Induction of antigen-specific tolerance by intrathymic injection of lentiviral vectors

Immune tolerance to self-antigens is established during lymphocyte differentiation in the thymus, but a simple means to induce antigen-specific tolerance in the thymus is still elusive. We show here that intrathymic injection of a lentiviral vector expressing the hemagglutinin antigen (HA) in TCR-HA transgenic mice resulted in negative selection of HA-specific effector T cells and sustained positive selection of HA-specific regulatory T cells (Tregs). This positive selection increased the number of HA-specific Tregs 10-fold and was comparable with the one observed in TCR-HA transgenic mice crossed with transgenic mice expressing HA under the control of the insulin promoter (Ins-HA). HA expression by radioresistant thymic epithelial cells was sufficient to drive Treg generation. Intrathymic injection of the lentiviral vector also resulted in an enrichment of HA-specific Tregs in peripheral lymphoid organs, which prevented diabetes induced in Ins-HA mice by transfer of HA-specific effector T cells. In this model, HA-specific Tregs inhibited effector T-cell division in pancreatic lymph nodes. Finally, we show that intrathymic injection of a lentiviral vector expressing preproinsulin-2 could reduce the occurrence of spontaneous diabetes in nonobese diabetic mice. Intrathymic gene transfer using lentiviral vectors thus offers new means to manipulate antigen-specific tolerance.