Potential preventative therapy for type 1 diabetes
Posted on Jun 24, 2009
Australian scientists prevent onset of type 1 diabetes by making immune cells tolerate insulin-producing cells.
JDRF-funded researchers Ms Eliana Mariño and Dr Shane Grey have demonstrated the cells of the human immune system can be manipulated to prevent type 1 diabetes.
The body’s immune cells, or white blood cells, include B cells and T cells. B cells make antibodies and present ‘antigens’ to T cells, allowing them to recognise and kill invaders.
Previous research by the authors has showed that groups of B cells migrate to the pancreas and pancreatic lymph nodes and tell T cells to kill the cells that produce insulin.
Tags : antigens, B cells, BCMA, Diabetes Vaccine Development Centre, DVDC, pancreas, pancreatic lymph nodes, prevent, T cells
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