BioCentury
ARTICLE | Cover Story

Two-pronged approach to T1D

June 7, 2012 7:00 AM UTC

Researchers at the City of Hope have combined a method to regenerate pancreatic b cells with a strategy to induce immune tolerance and have used the dual approach to treat advanced type 1 diabetes in mice.1 The team plans to validate the technique in other autoimmune diseases before applying it to patients with type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) occurs when autoreactive T cells attack and destroy insulin-producing pancreatic b cells. Restoring the body's ability to produce insulin in type 1 diabetes requires regenerating insulin-producing b cells and preventing a host immune response against those new cells. The task is even harder in advanced type 1 diabetes, in which few if any functioning b cells remain...