Investigating the role of autophagy in the onset of allergic lung inflammation in diabetic and healthy mice

Abstract

Asthma and Diabetes are complex diseases, with high incidence rates all over the world and show certain antagonism. Previous studies reported the process of autophagy is correlated with lung remodelling, pancreatic ² cell proliferation and differentiation of T and B cells. The present study intends to understand what role autophagy plays in asthma and diabetes. The asthma model proposed in this study subjects the animals to 7 antigenic challenges using ovalbumin (OVA), induces Diabetes mellitus type 1 using streptozotocin (STZ) and autophagy using rapamycin. The study will be performed in diabetic and healthy mice challenged with OVA and treated with rapamycin. This study will include a) glycemia, b) leukogram and myelogram, c) immunoglobulin profile, d) cytokine, e) immunophenotyping of thymus, spleen and lung lymphocytes, f) tissue integrity and apoptotic process on thymus, spleen and lungs, g) autophagic process using markers ULK1, ATG5, LC3 A and B and Beclin-1 in lung, bone marrow and spleen samples, h) expressiom of BMP-7, collagen I and TGF-²1 by RT-PCR during allergic lung inflammation.