A guanidine-rich regulatory oligodeoxynucleotide improves type-2 diabetes in obese mice by blocking T-cell

Xiang Cheng1, Jing Wang, Ni Xia

  • 1Laboratory of Cardiovascular Immunology, Institute of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technolog, Laboratory of Biological Targeted Therapy of the Ministry of Education, Wuhan, P. R. China. nathancx@mail.hust.edu.cn

EMBO Molecular Medicine
|October 3, 2012
PubMed

T lymphocytes exhibit pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory activities in obesity and diabetes, depending on their subtypes. Guanidine-rich immunosuppressive oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) effectively control Th1/Th2-cell counterbalance. This study reveals a non-toxic regulatory ODN (ODNR01) that inhibits Th1- and Th17-cell polarization by binding to STAT1/3/4 and blocking their phosphorylation without affecting Th2 and regulatory T cells. ODNR01 improves glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in both diet-induced obese (DIO) and genetically generated obese (ob/ob) mice. Mechanistic studies show that ODNR01 suppresses Th1- and Th17-cell differentiation in white adipose tissue, thereby reducing macrophage accumulation and M1 macrophage inflammatory molecule expression without affecting M2 macrophages. While ODNR01 shows no effect on diabetes in lymphocyte-free Rag1-deficient DIO mice, it enhances glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in CD4(+) T-cell-reconstituted Rag1-deficient DIO mice, suggesting its beneficial effect on insulin resistance is T-cell-dependent. Therefore, regulatory ODNR01 reduces obesity-associated insulin resistance through modulation of T-cell differentiation.

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