The extent and magnitude of islet T cell infiltration as powerful tools to define the progression to type 1 diabetes.

Aims/hypothesis: Insulitis is not present in all islets, and it is elusive in humans. Although earlier studies focused on islets that fulfilled certain criteria (e.g. ≥15 CD45 cells or ≥6 CD3 cells), there is a fundamental lack of understanding of the infiltration dynamics in terms of its magnitude (i.e. how much) and extent (i.e. where). Here, we aimed to perform an in-depth characterisation of T cell infiltration by investigating islets with moderate (1-5 CD3 cells) and high (≥6 CD3 cells) infiltration in individuals with and without type 1 diabetes.

Methods: Pancreatic tissue sections from 15 non-diabetic, eight double autoantibody-positive and ten type 1 diabetic (0-2 years of disease duration) organ donors were obtained from the Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes, and stained for insulin, glucagon, CD3 and CD8 by immunofluorescence. T cell infiltration was quantified in a total of 8661 islets using the software QuPath. The percentage of infiltrated islets and islet T cell density were calculated. To help standardise the analysis of T cell infiltration, we used cell density data to develop a new T cell density threshold capable of differentiating non-diabetic and type 1 diabetic donors.

Results: Our analysis revealed that 17.1% of islets in non-diabetic donors, 33% of islets in autoantibody-positive and 32.5% of islets in type 1 diabetic donors were infiltrated by 1 to 5 CD3 cells. Islets infiltrated by ≥6 CD3 cells were rare in non-diabetic donors (0.4%) but could be found in autoantibody-positive (4.5%) and type 1 diabetic donors (8.2%). CD8 and CD8 populations followed similar patterns. Likewise, T cell density was significantly higher in the islets of autoantibody-positive donors (55.4 CD3 cells/mm) and type 1 diabetic donors (74.8 CD3 cells/mm) compared with non-diabetic individuals (17.3 CD3 cells/mm), which was accompanied by higher exocrine T cell density in type 1 diabetic individuals. Furthermore, we showed that the analysis of a minimum of 30 islets and the use of a reference mean value for T cell density of 30 CD3 cells/mm (the 30-30 rule) can differentiate between non-diabetic and type 1 diabetic donors with high specificity and sensitivity. In addition, it can classify autoantibody-positive individuals as non-diabetic or type 1 diabetic-like.

Conclusions/interpretation: Our data indicates that the proportion of infiltrated islets and T cell density change dramatically during the course of type 1 diabetes, and these changes can be already observed in double autoantibody-positive individuals. This suggests that, as disease progresses, T cell infiltration extends throughout the pancreas, reaching the islets and exocrine compartment. While it predominantly targets insulin-containing islets, large accumulations of cells are rare. Our study fulfils the need to further understand T cell infiltration, not only after diagnosis but also in individuals with diabetes-related autoantibodies. Furthermore, the development and application of new analytical tools based on T cell infiltration, like the 30-30 rule, will allow us to correlate islet infiltration with demographic and clinical variables with the aim of identifying individuals at the very early stages of the disease.