Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
JDRF-funded researchers at the University of Cambridge have found evidence of a link between viral infection and the development of type 1 diabetes.
They discovered that a genetic response normally associated with infection preceded the first indications of the condition in children.
?We can now move our research forward to dissect out what effects such an anti-viral gene response has on the immune system to increase the risk of autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes in very young children,? commented Professor John Todd, Director of the JDRF/Wellcome Trust Diabetes and Inflammation Laboratory at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, a co-director of the project.
He and JDRF postdoctoral fellow Dr Ricardo Ferreira, who led the research, believe their findings could lead to a way of identifying children at increased risk of type 1, even before they develop the immune system proteins, known as autoantibodies, that are currently the only immune system marker for the condition before symptoms arise.
https://www.jdrf.org.uk/news/latest-news/researchers-infection-and-type-1
They discovered that a genetic response normally associated with infection preceded the first indications of the condition in children.
?We can now move our research forward to dissect out what effects such an anti-viral gene response has on the immune system to increase the risk of autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes in very young children,? commented Professor John Todd, Director of the JDRF/Wellcome Trust Diabetes and Inflammation Laboratory at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, a co-director of the project.
He and JDRF postdoctoral fellow Dr Ricardo Ferreira, who led the research, believe their findings could lead to a way of identifying children at increased risk of type 1, even before they develop the immune system proteins, known as autoantibodies, that are currently the only immune system marker for the condition before symptoms arise.
https://www.jdrf.org.uk/news/latest-news/researchers-infection-and-type-1