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Diabetes Health
Diabetes Health Professional
- Taken for Health or Taken for a Ride?
Are vitamins and supplements really necessary for people with diabetes? John White discusses the nature and eff ects of the most common ones people take in addition to their medications.
- Cinnamon: Should It Be Taken as a Medication?
The verdict is in, says John White: Despite some intriguing initial results, subsequent studies have pretty much laid to rest cinnamon’s reputation as a pseudo-insulin.
- Sweeter (and Better) Than Sugar?
There are so many non-sugar sweeteners out there – where to begin? Well, begin here as the famous medical duo of Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades explore the pros and cons of various artifi cial sweeteners.
- Belly Busters for Beginners
Out of shape? Want to get better? Well, working your abdominals to get them into fi ghting trim is the classic way to start an exercise program. Ann Swank tells you how.
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Latest Type 1 Issues Articles
Gotcha! Scientists Catch Immune Cells Triggering Attacks in Mice
Scientists have long considered type 1 diabetes to be an autoimmune disease in which the body mistakenly attacks a part of itself–in this case, the insulin-producing structures of the pancreas called the islets of Langerhans.
But they’ve never been able to directly observe just how the body carries out its attack upon itself. Now, thanks to some lab mice at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, scientists have been able to observe in detail just what happens.
Researchers found that tiny immune cells in the pancreas, called “dendritic cells,” carry insulin and fragments of insulin-producing beta cells on their surfaces. When they exposed these cells to lymphocytes from diabetic mice (lymphocytes are the white blood cells that fight infection), their “cargo” of insulin and beta cell fragments triggered an autoimmune reaction.
How Dendritic Cells Work
Dendritic cells, along with others, are the immune system’s gatekeepers and security alarms. They scour the body, picking up bits of protein that, if they’re from intruders such as viruses or bacteria, cause an immune reaction. But in some mice (and people), they sometimes pick up “friendly protein” (for example, from pancreatic beta cells) that the immune system misidentifies as a foe. Then the body, in a mistaken reaction, attacks itself.
Scientists have known about dendritic cells in the islets of Langerhans for a long time and have suspected them as culprits in causing type 1. The problem has always been in isolating them: There are only five to ten of them per islet, making them difficult to segregate and observe. But the Washington University researchers found ways to identify and isolate the cells in large enough numbers to study.
Knowing just how dendritic cells do their work is the first step in creating ways to prevent or inhibit the cells from sparking an autoimmune response that attacks the islets and beta cells. Blocking the body’s mistaken autoimmune response would be a huge step toward preventing and treating type 1diabetes.
The results of the study have been published online in “The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”
Dendritic Cells Are Otherwise Beneficial
A parallel study showed that although dendritic cells can cause problems in mice with autoimmune disorders, they are probably beneficial to the functioning of beta cells in healthy bodies. In a way not yet understood, dendritic cells add to the size of beta cells, which in turn gives them power and effectiveness.
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If new pancres are being transplanted into a person with type I diabetes, then who is to say that the body won't attack the new pancres?
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