Pertussis vaccine inhibits immune insulitis induced with streptozotocin.

Normally, the injection of streptozotocin (STZ) at a lower dose (60 mg/kg body weight) to young (45 days old) CD-1 male mice produces a sustained hyperglycemia with the concomitant development of hypoinsulinemia and immune insulitis in the pancreas, both of which lead to insulin-dependent diabetes (IDD). In an effort to abort the development of IDD, pertussis vaccine (PV) was administered either intraperitoneally (n = 12) or intravenously (n = 12) 3 days prior to STZ injection. In contrast to the control group (n = 12) which received only STZ resulting in the subsequent development of IDD after 16 weeks, none of the vaccinated group developed IDD. The complete protective effect was evidenced by normal insulin values, normoglycemia, the lack of the development of nucleic acid antibody and the absence of insulitis in the vaccinated animals. Under these experimental conditions, PV appeared to offer satisfactory protection of the beta cells of islets in pancreas against the inflammatory effect of STZ.