What if the cure to type 1 diabetes (T1D) is hiding in your own cells?
A team of researchers from BRI and Seattle Children’s Research Institute have been asking this question for years – and it led them to develop a new type of therapy that could someday become a groundbreaking treatment for T1D and other autoimmune diseases.
T1D starts when immune cells go haywire and start attacking the pancreas. To try and stop these attacks, the researchers used gene-editing technology to create a special kind of cell called an engineered t-regulatory cell, or Treg (pronounced “tee-reg”). These cells mimic natural cells that keep the immune system in check. A new study, led by a BRI researcher and published in Science Translational Medicine, put these engineered cells to the test. In lab tests, the research team found that the engineered cells controlled the cells that attack the pancreas in T1D patients. What’s more, the engineered cells prevented T1D in preclinical models.
“It’s an important step because it shows that, by copying a natural process that protects the body, we might be able to stop T1D at the source,” says Soo Jung Yang, PhD, a BRI researcher who led the study.
