Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
By instructing key immune system cells to accept transplanted insulin-producing islets, researchers have opened a potentially new pathway for treating type 1 diabetes. If the approach is ultimately successful in humans, it could allow type 1 diabetes to be treated without the long-term complications of immune system suppression.
The technique, reported June 4 in the journal Nature Materials, uses synthetic hydrogel particles (microgels) to present a protein known as the Fas ligand (FasL) to immune system T-effector cells along with the pancreatic islets being transplanted. The FasL protein "educates" the effector cells -- which serve as immune system watchdogs -- causing them to accept the graft without rejection for at least 200 days in an animal model.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180605103500.htm
The technique, reported June 4 in the journal Nature Materials, uses synthetic hydrogel particles (microgels) to present a protein known as the Fas ligand (FasL) to immune system T-effector cells along with the pancreatic islets being transplanted. The FasL protein "educates" the effector cells -- which serve as immune system watchdogs -- causing them to accept the graft without rejection for at least 200 days in an animal model.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180605103500.htm
