Regulatory T cell dysfunction in type 1 diabetes: what's broken and how can we fix it?

ABSTRACT: Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease characterised by the destruction of insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas. Whilst it remains unclear what the original triggering factors for this destruction are, observations from the natural history of human type 1 diabetes, including incidence rates in twins, suggest that the disease results from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Whilst many different immune cells have been implicated, including members of the innate and adaptive immune systems, a view has emerged over the past 10 years that beta cell damage is mediated by the combined actions of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells with specificity for islet autoantigens. In health, these potentially pathogenic T cells are held in check by multiple regulatory mec

SUBMITTER: Hull CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6448885 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature