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Updated: Mar 14, 2026

Regulatory T cells: Therapeutic Potential for Treating Transplant Rejection and Type I Diabetes
Published on: August 20, 2007
Restoring Regulatory T Cells in Type 1 Diabetes
1Department of Surgery and UCSF Diabetes Center, University of California, 513 Parnassus HSE-520, Box 0780, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
Abstract:
Genetic and cellular studies of type 1 diabetes in patients and in the nonobese diabetic mouse model of type 1 diabetes point to an imbalance between effector T cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs) as a driver of the disease. The imbalance may arise as a consequence of genetically encoded defects in thymic deletion of islet antigen-specific T cells, induction of islet antigen-specific thymic Tregs, unfavorable tissue environment for peripheral Treg induction, and failure of islet antigen-specific Tregs to survive in the inflamed islets secondary to insufficient IL-2 signals. These understandings are the foundation for rationalized design of new therapeutic interventions to restore the balance by selectively targeting effector T cells and boosting Tregs.
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