[Immunological intervention to preserve beta-cell function in type 1 diabetes]

N C Schloot1

  • 1Institut für Klinische Diabetologie am Deutschen Diabetes- Zentrum, Leibniz-Zentrum für Diabetesforschung an der Heinrich-Heine Universität, Düsseldorf, Germany. schloot@ddz.uni-duesseldorf.de

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic immune mediated disease leading to selective loss of insulin producing ss-cells. The incidence of type 1 diabetes has been rising. In past years quite a number of studies have been performed that aim to mitigate disease progression after diagnosis (tertiary prevention), in islet-antibody positive subjects at increased diabetes risk (secondary prevention) or in subjects genetically at risk but without autoantibodies (primary prevention). Studies of tertiary prevention are based on anti-inflammatory, T-cell directed, antigen-specific or stem cell approaches. Amelioration of disease course has been seen in a few of these trials, but no therapeutic regimen has so far been developed to cure type 1 diabetes after its clinical manifestation.

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