TOPICS

Identification of Autoimmunity in Fulminant Type 1 Diabetes

Prof. Daisuke Chujo (Center for Clinical Research, University of Toyama) and colleagues from University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan, National Center of Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, and Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Takatsuki, Japan, successfully identified specific cellular autoimmune responses in patients with fulminant type 1 diabetes patients.

They compared islet antigen-specific cellular immune responses among the patients with the three subtypes of type 1 diabetes; acute-onset type 1 diabetes (AT1D), slowly-progressive type 1 diabetes (SP1D), and fulminant type 1 diabetes (FT1D); and non-diabetic subjects, by using blood samples from the subjects. These analyses revealed that FT1D patients displayed the highest frequencies of CD8+ cytotoxic T cells, indicating immune cells destructing pancreatic islet cells (insulin producing cells), in response to islet antigen, islet-specific glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic subunit-related protein (IGRP).

Since the mechanism of FT1D onset were largely unknown, their novel findings are certainly important in terms of the determination of the mechanism. Furthermore, these findings may contribute to the development of novel therapeutic approach in type 1 diabetes.

This study has been published online in the journal, Clinical Immunology on Nobember 19th, 2021.

Article information

Title

Fulminant type 1 diabetes patients display high frequencies of IGRP-specific type 1 CD8+ T cells

Authors

Daisuke Chujo1, 2, 3, 6, Akitsu Kawabe2, Maya Matsushita3, Chiharu Tsutsumi4, Fumitaka Haseda4, Akihisa Imagawa4, Toshiaki Hanafusa4, 5, Kohjiro Ueki3, 7, Hiroshi Kajio3, Kunimasa Yagi6, Kazuyuki Tobe1, 6, Masayuki Shimoda2

Affiliations

  1. Center for Clinical Research, Toyama University Hospital, Toyama, Japan
  2. Islet Cell Transplantation Project, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
  3. Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
  4. Department of Internal Medicine (I), Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Takatsuki, Japan
  5. Sakai City Medical Center, Sakai, Japan
  6. Department of Internal Medicine (I), Toyama University Hospital, Toyama, Japan
  7. Diabetes Research Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

Journal

Clinical Immunology. 233:108893, 2021
DOI: 10.1016/j.clim.2021.108893