Final piece of type 1 diabetes puzzle solved

[nitpicker]

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-36113773

Final piece of type 1 diabetes puzzle solved

By James Gallagher
Health editor, BBC News website

8 hours ago

A complete picture of the areas that the immune system attacks to cause type 1 diabetes has finally been revealed by scientists. The study, published in the journal Diabetes, discovered the fifth and final critical target at which the immune system errantly takes aim. The team at the University of Lincoln say the findings could help develop new ways to prevent and treat the disease. Diabetes UK said the findings were "impressive".
(snip)

Studies looking at the unique antibodies made by patients with type 1 showed there were five key targets that the immune system attacked. But working out exactly what they were has been like identifying someone from their silhouette. Studies long ago discovered some of the targets, but the final one has proved elusive for two decades.

Dr Michael Christie, who led the research at the University of Lincoln, told the BBC: "With this new discovery, we have now finished identifying what the immune system is targeting - we have the complete picture."

The targets are:
◾Insulin
◾Glutamate decarboxylase
◾IA-2
◾Zinc transporter-8
◾And the final piece of the puzzle, tetraspanin-7
(snip)

Knowledge of some of these targets is already being used in a trial at King's College London that is aiming to stall the progression of type 1. But Dr Christie says having the complete picture could help transform care for type 1 patients.

He said: "Once the immune system decides it wants to get rid of something it's very hard to stop, so diabetes has proved to be a difficult disease to prevent. So we're hoping that, by having identified the major targets in the disease, we can find ways to prevent it by blocking the immune response to these five proteins without leaving that person vulnerable to infections. With recent improvements in our understanding of the disease I'm very hopeful we'll develop a treatment now; I have a lot more confidence than even five years ago."
(snip)

[tanyev]

1. Nice. Type 1 is scary enough when my husband was diagnosed with it a few years ago.

I can only imagine how difficult it is when you have a young child diagnosed with it.