Could germs too trigger Type-1 Diabetes ? A Study
Scientists have previously shown that killer T-cells, a type of white blood cell that normally protects us from germs, play a major part in type 1 diabetes by destroying insulin producing cells, known as beta cells.
Now, a new research reveals that germs could play a role in the development of type 1 diabetes by triggering the body’s immune system to destroy the cells that produce insulin.
The team hopes this research will lead to new ways to diagnose, prevent or even halt type 1 diabetes.
In previous studies the Cardiff team isolated a killer T-cell from a patient with type 1 diabetes to view the unique interaction which kills the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.
They found these killer T-cells were highly ‘cross-reactive’, meaning that they can react to lots of different triggers raising the possibility that a pathogen might stimulate the T-cells that initiate type 1 diabetes.
Cardiff University’s Dr David Cole said: “Killer T-cells sense their environment using cell surface receptors that act like highly sensitive fingertips, scanning for germs.”
“However, sometimes these sensors recognize the wrong target, and the killer T-cells attack our own tissue. We, and others, have shown this is what happens during type 1 diabetes when killer T-cells target and destroy beta cells.”
“In this new study, we wanted to find out what was causing these T-cells to kill beta cells. We identified part of a bug that turns on killer T-cells so they latch onto beta cells. This finding sheds new light on how these killer T-cells are turned into rogues, leading to the development of type 1 diabetes.”
The research, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, provides a first ever glimpse of how germs might trigger killer T-cells to cause type 1 diabetes, but also points towards a more general mechanism for the cause of other autoimmune diseases.
