Event Abstract Back to Event Overexpression of Galectin-9 in Islets Prolongs Grafts Survival via Downregulation of Th1 Responses Feng-Cheng Chou1, Chih-Chi Kuo2, Heng-Yi Chen1 and Huey-Kang Sytwu1* 1 National Defense Medical Center, Department and Graduate Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Taiwan 2 National Defense Medical Center, Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Taiwan The differential activation of T helper (Th) cells and production of cytokines contribute to graft rejection or tolerance. In general, the Th1-type cytokines and cytotoxic T cells are detected consistently in host undergoing rejection, whereas Th2 responses are linked to a tolerance condition. Galectin-9 modulates Th1 cell immunity by binding to the T-cell immunoglobulin mucin-3 (Tim-3) molecule expressed on the Th1 cells. We investigate whether overexpression of galectin-9 in islets prolongs grafts survival in diabetic recipients. Islets were transduced with lentiviruses carrying galectin-9 and were then transplanted to streptozotocin-induced diabetic NOD/SCID recipients. The normoglycemic recipients then received splenocytes from diabetic NOD mice. Blood glucose concentration was monitored daily after adoptive transfer. The histology of the islet grafts and flow cytometric analyses were assessed at the end of the study. Overexpression of galectin-9 in islets prolonged grafts survival in NOD/SCID mice after challenge with diabetogenic splenocytes (mean graft survival, 38.5 vs 26.0 days, n = 10, respectively; P = 0.0096). The galectin-9-overexpressed grafts showed decreased infiltration of IFN-g-producing CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, but not of IL-17+producing CD4+ T cells. Strikingly, this islet-specific genetic manipulation did not affect the systemic lymphocyte composition, indicating that galectin-9 may regulate T cell-mediated inflammation in situ. We demonstrate that galectin-9 protects grafts from Th1- and Tc1-cell-mediated rejections, suggesting that galectin-9 has preventive and/or therapeutic benefit in transplant therapy for autoimmune diabetes and may be applied further to the transplantation of other organs or tissues. Acknowledgements This work was supported by the National Science Council, Taiwan, ROC (NSC100-3112-B-016-001, NSC99-2320-B-016-001-MY3 to H.-K. Sytwu), Tri-service General Hospital foundation (TSGH-C101-009-0S01), National Health Research Institutes (NHRI-100A1-PDCO-0809111), Ministry of Economic Affairs (100-EC-17-A-20-S1-028) and C.Y. Foundation for Advancement of Education, Sciences, and Medicine. Keywords: galectin-9, Th1 Cells, TIM-3, Islet Transplantation, autoimminity Conference: 15th International Congress of Immunology (ICI), Milan, Italy, 22 Aug - 27 Aug, 2013. Presentation Type: Abstract Topic: Translational immunology and immune intervention Citation: Chou F, Kuo C, Chen H and Sytwu H (2013). Overexpression of Galectin-9 in Islets Prolongs Grafts Survival via Downregulation of Th1 Responses. Front. Immunol. Conference Abstract: 15th International Congress of Immunology (ICI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fimmu.2013.02.00254 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 12 Mar 2013; Published Online: 22 Aug 2013. * Correspondence: Prof. Huey-Kang Sytwu, National Defense Medical Center, Department and Graduate Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Taipei, Taiwan, sytwu@ndmctsgh.edu.tw Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Feng-Cheng Chou Chih-Chi Kuo Heng-Yi Chen Huey-Kang Sytwu Google Feng-Cheng Chou Chih-Chi Kuo Heng-Yi Chen Huey-Kang Sytwu Google Scholar Feng-Cheng Chou Chih-Chi Kuo Heng-Yi Chen Huey-Kang Sytwu PubMed Feng-Cheng Chou Chih-Chi Kuo Heng-Yi Chen Huey-Kang Sytwu Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.