Proinsulin-specific T regulatory cells may control immune responses in type 1 diabetes: implications for adoptive therapy

What is it about?

We have found that type 1 diabetes has a chronic inflammatory component which makes T-cells immunosenescent and less polyclonal with its progression. The expansion of the same TCR families in both Tconvs and Tregs suggests that there is common autoantigen(s) which drive(s) the progression of the disease. It seems that proinsulin is the most important autoantigen when organ-specific T-cell responses are taken into account. Importantly, the expansion of Tregs for clinical purposes is associated with a preferential increase in the level of disease-specific Tregs, notably proinsulin-specific Tregs. The patients treated with such a product were characterized by more polyclonal repertoire of T-cells, longer telomeres and preserved levels of proinsulin-specific recent emigrants within Tregs. For these reasons, future therapies should consider cellular products enriched with such antigen-specific Tregs.

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