Genetic tools help identify a cellular culprit for type 1 diabetes

[Northerner]

By mapping its genetic underpinnings, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified a predictive causal role for specific cell types in type 1 diabetes, a condition that affects more than 1.6 million Americans.

The findings are published in the May 19, 2021 online issue of Nature.

Type 1 diabetes is a complex autoimmune disease characterized by the impairment and loss of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells and subsequent hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), which is damaging to the body and can cause other serious health problems, such as heart disease and vision loss. Type 1 is less common than type 2 diabetes, but its prevalence is growing. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects 5 million Americans will have type 1 diabetes by 2050. Currently, there is no cure, only disease management.

Genetic tools help identify a cellular culprit for type 1 diabetes

By mapping its genetic underpinnings, researchers have identified a predictive causal role for specific cell types in type 1 diabetes, a condition that affects more than 1.6 million Americans.

www.sciencedaily.com

 

[Inka]

This is interesting:


“... we were able to identify cell type-specific functions of disease variants and discover a predictive causal role for pancreatic exocrine cells in type 1 diabetes, which we were able to validate experimentally," said Gaulton.
Pancreatic exocrine cells produce enzymes secreted into the small intestine, where they help digest food.
Co-author Maike Sander, MD, professor in the departments of Pediatrics and Cellular and Molecular Medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine and director of the Pediatric Diabetes Research Center, said She described the work as "a landmark study."
"The implication is that exocrine cell dysfunction might be a major contributor to disease. This study provides a genetic roadmap from which we can determine which exocrine genes may have a role in disease pathogenesis."
First author Joshua Chiou, PhD, a recent graduate of the Biomedical Sciences graduate program at UC San Diego added: "Understanding how type 1 diabetes originates at the cellular level is a critical step in finding treatments for reversing its course and, ultimately, preventing the disease altogether."

 

[mikeyB]

I reckon I've just got a vindictive immune system, with T1 and chronic pancreatitis, plus a few other autoimmune conditions. The T1 developed years before the CP, for what it's worth.