Single-cell analysis reveals islet autoantigen’s immune activation in type 1 diabetes patients

In this study, we used single-cell sequencing, which can comprehensively detect the type and number of transcripts per cell, to efficiently stimulate peripheral blood mononuclear cells of type 1 diabetic patients with overlapping peptides of GAD, IA-2, and insulin antigens, and performed gene expression analysis by single-cell variable-diversity-joining sequencing and T-cell receptor repertoire analysis. Twenty male patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus participating in the KAMOGAWA-DM cohort were included. Four of them were randomly selected for BD Rhapsody system after reacting peripheral blood mononuclear cells with overlapping peptides of GAD, IA-2, and insulin antigen. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were clustered into CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, granulocytes, natural killer cells, dendritic cells, monocytes, and B cells based on Seurat analysis. In the insulin group, gene expression of inflammatory cytokines was elevated in cytotoxic CD8+ T cells and Th1 and Th17 cells, and gene expression related to exhaustion was elevated in regulatory T cells. In T cell receptors of various T cells, the T cell receptor β chain was monoclonally increased in the TRBV28/TRBJ2-7 pairs. This study provides insights into the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes and provides potential targets for the treatment of type 1 diabetes.