Author Interviews, Diabetes, Pediatrics / 14.10.2016
Follicular T Cells May Play a Role in Development of Type I Diabetes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Tuure Kinnunen, MD, PhD
Academy Research Fellow
School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland
Kuopio, Finland
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the immune system destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. It typically manifests in childhood and early adolescence.
Diabetes-associated autoantibodies are highly predictive of type 1 diabetes risk and they can be typically detected in the blood of patients even years before the onset of the disease.
Follicular helper T cells are a recently described type of immune cells that have a central role in activating B cells, which in turn are responsible for producing antibodies. Since the emergence of autoantibodies is a common feature of type 1 diabetes development, it is plausible that follicular T helper cells have a role in the disease process. This notion is also supported by evidence recently generated in the murine models of type 1 diabetes.
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