Changes in autoreactive T cell avidity during type 1 diabetes development

The activation threshold for antigen-specific T cell responses is dependent on the avidity of the trimolecular interaction between TCR, antigen, and MHC. We compared CD4+ T cell avidities for the diabetes-associated autoantigen glutamic acid decarboxylase 555–567 (GAD 555) among serial samples from autoantibody-positive subjects at high risk of progression to type 1 diabetes (T1D). T cells from three at-risk subjects demonstrated significant avidity increases (p < 0.05 by F test) over time. This avidity shift correlated with the outgrowth of T cells expressing TCR BV 9, 15, 17 or 20 that demonstrated higher GAD 555 tetramer-binding levels compared to cells expressing other TCR BV genes. Similar analysis of autoantibody-negative, first-degree relatives and T1D patients did not demonstrate similar changes in avidity. These data implicate the outgrowth of T cells expressing higher affinity TCR in a process of antigen-specific T cell avidity maturation during the pre-clinical stage of T1D.