Researchers are one step closer to pinpointing the direct cause of Type 1 diabetes. Dr. Dario Vignali and his team at St Jude Children’s Research Center have discovered how destructive immune cells gain access to insulin-producing cells and help cause type 1 diabetes. These findings may lead to possible strategies for halting or preventing diabetes altogether.

Using mice as test subjects, Dr. Vignali and his team demonstrated that to enter the insulin producing Beta cells of the pancreas (known as the Islets of Langerhans), t-cells must recognize a specific marker on the surface. T-cells, named after where they are produced (thymus), play a key role in regulating immune response. Once inside the Islets of Langerhans, these t-cells trigger an inflammatory response that can lead to the destruction of the beta cells.

This study is important because it gives a clear view as to how t-cells enter and accumulate in the Islets of Langerhans. Dr. Vignali’s results contradict a popular theory that only a small amount of the t-cells that enter the islets are directly involved in causing diabetes. As the theory goes, once this small amount of specialized t-cells gained entry into the islets, they signaled othert-cells  to join them.

These secondary t-cells were thought to play no role in causing diabetes but were present all the same. The theory also held that any t cell could gain access into the islets, but Dr. Vignali’s work proves that there are specific markers on the cell that allow t-cells to gain entry, much like a password or a key. With further study, if researchers can figure out what the t-cells are identifying to give them entry into the beta cell, they might be able to prevent diabetes.

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