Aims/hypothesis Earlier studies of pancreases from donors with type 1 diabetes demonstrated enteroviral capsid protein VP1 in beta cells. In the context of a multidisciplinary approach undertaken by t...

The research community has flocked to the social-media platform Bluesky. Tell us about your experience.

Diabetologia - Islet prohormone-processing enzymes convert peptide hormone precursors to mature hormones. Defective beta cell prohormone processing and the release of incompletely processed peptide...

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Professor Helen Thomas, an outstanding medical researcher whose work in type 1 diabetes made a significant impact.

Coxsackievirus efficiently infects and destroys pancreatic β cells without eliciting strong CD8+ T cell responses.

Image: Coloured TEM of an islet of Langerhans cell. Credit: Science Photo Library

Diabetologia - Insulitis is not present in all islets, and it is elusive in humans. Although earlier studies focused on islets that fulfilled certain criteria (e.g. ≥15 CD45+ cells or...

Tissue residency and transit of both innate and adaptive immune cells are part of the physiological developmental program of multiple organs. In health, these cells function to remove cellular debris, remodel tissue architecture through growth and development, and surveil against opportunistic and chronic pathogens. However, these programs breakdown in tissue-specific autoimmune diseases, including in Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), in which the pancreatic insulin-producing beta cells are destroyed by the immune system. Traditionally, islet inflammation (insulitis) has been the histological hallmark of T1D. After careful examination of human pancreas samples collected over the last 50 years, it is now apparent that insulitis is frequently present near T1D onset, but its detection dramatically decreases over time. Moreover, emerging studies now support a generalized pancreatic mass defect and additional abnormalities and cellular infiltration within the acinar tissues surrounding the islets of Langerhans. However, little is known about the phenotype of the infiltrating cells, their antigen specificity, and how they recirculate to lymph nodes, blood and vice-versa. Innate immune cells like macrophages and neutrophils are likely to be present in early stages of the disease, potentially initiating inflammation and regulating lymphocyte entry into the islet. Tissue-resident CD8+ T cells can be found in non-diabetic pancreas but their numbers are increased in recent-onset T1D subjects, a...

In human type 1 diabetes and animal models of the disease, a diverse assortment of immune cells infiltrates the pancreatic islets. CD8+ T cells are well repr...

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease of the pancreas characterized by the loss of insulin-producing beta cells. Access to human pancreas samples for research...

The mechanisms underlying type 1 diabetes (T1D) pathogenesis remain largely unknown. While autoantibodies to pancreatic beta-cell antigens are often the firs...