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The Scripps Research Institute Discovery paves the way for earlier detection of type 1 disease. Patients with type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile diabetes, must frequently monitor blood glucose levels and administer insulin to keep those levels in a healthy range. A new discovery from Scripps Research may help identify signs of the disease earlier than is currently possible, enabling disease intervention at a critical time.
Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that typically emerges before the age of 20, wipes out the body’s ability to produce insulin—a hormone that’s essential to life. Diagnosis often comes after symptoms arise, at which point the disease has taken hold. But if there were a way to test at-risk patients for very early signs of the disease, it may be possible to delay its onset.In new research published in Science Immunology, scientists at Scripps Research have discovered what may be the earliest possible biological marker of type 1 diabetes, formerly known as juvenile diabetes.
If their mouse study can be replicated in humans, which they are now attempting to do, the timing of therapeutic intervention may be drastically improved for patients who are on course to develop the disease. “The translational aspect of this study is what’s most exciting to me,” says Luc Teyton, MD, Ph.D., professor of immunology and microbiology at Scripps Research, who led the research. “By using single-cell technologies to study the prediabetic phase of disease, we have been able to mechanistically link specific anti-insulin T cells with the autoimmune response seen in type 1 diabetes.
And that has given us the confirmation we needed to move into human studies. “Roughly 1.25 million American children and adults have type 1 diabetes, and the incidence rate is increasing for reasons that aren’t fully understood. For those with the disease, the immune system attacks pancreatic beta cells that are solely responsible for producing insulin. Without insulin, their body is unable to move sugars out of the bloodstream and into cells, where glucose is needed for energy.
Because of this, people with type 1 diabetes need to closely monitor their blood-glucose levels and inject insulin daily to survive. The scientific community has known for a long time—ever since a landmark genetic study of type 1 diabetes more than 25 years ago—that among people with type 1 diabetes, a distinct genetic signature is always present among a certain class of immune-regulating molecules known as HLAs (short for human leukocyte antigens).
HLA proteins sit on the surface of cells, telling the immune system whether to attack. While this signaling is normally helpful in destroying dangerous cells, it can become life-threatening when the molecule is sending the wrong messages.
Source :The Scripps Research Institute