The discovery has been the work of a team of researchers from the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausana (EPFL), in Lausana, Switzerland.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when immune cells attack the pancreas.Now, researchers from the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausana (EPFL), in Lausana, Switzerland, have discovered what this attack can trigger, a finding that can open new paths for disease treatments.
It is the rarest but more aggressive way of diabetes, which usually affects children and adolescents and in which the patient's immune cells themselves begin to attack the pancreas cells that produce insulin, eventually eliminating their production in the body.Immune cells direct certain proteins within insulin producing cells.
However, it is not clear how it really happens.EPFL experts have discovered that the immune attack in type 1 diabetes can be triggered by the release of proteins of the pancreas itself, as well as the package in which they are found.The work, which has significant implications for therapeutic strategies, is detailed in an article published in diabetes.
Diabetes is a disease in which the body produces inappropriate amounts or does not produce insulin hormone, which regulates blood sugar levels.A group of cells in the pancreas called beta cells are responsible for manufacturing insulin.In type 1 diabetes, the patient's immune cells specifically attack beta cells, thus interrupting insulin production, but it is not known exactly what that first attack of immune cells attacks.
Researchers from the EPFL Bioengineering Institute, led by Steinunn Baekkeskov, have discovered that pancreatic beta cells secrete proteins that are attacked by the immune system.But it is not just the proteins that cause problems;but also its packaging.
The exosome, a possible culprit
This container comes in the form of small vesicles called exosomes, which are secreted by all types of cells to distribute several molecules with different functions.Previous studies have shown that exosomes can also activate the immune system.Based on this, the EPFL researchers examined the exosomes of human and animal pancreatic cells.
The results of their analysis showed that the pancreatic beta cells of rats and humans release three proteins known for being linked to type 1 diabetes and, in fact, they are used by doctors to diagnose their appearance in people.
They could also have discovered why the immune attack against the pancreas begins: when beta cells produced by insulin were exposed to stress, they released large amounts of exosomes, which also "decorated" with proteins that activate immune cells.These powerful inflammatory proteins may be involved in induction of autoimmunity in pathology.
