idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Inflammation processes are responsible for the failure of insulin production in diabetes patients. The patients’ own immune systems can contribute to treatment of this disease: researchers at the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel have found a feedback mechanism that could help maintain insulin production in overweight sufferers, as they report in the journal Immunity.
In their study, the Basel-based researchers focused specifically on recently discovered ILC2 immune cells in the pancreas, where, under diabetic conditions, the protein IL33 is activated, among others. This protein stimulates the ILC2 cells, which trigger the release of insulin in overweight individuals using retinoic acid and could therefore be used to inhibit the failure of insulin production.
The research conducted by scientists at the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at University Hospital Basel and the University of Basel’s Department of Biomedicine gives an insight into an inflammatory network that could contribute to the maintenance of insulin production in diabetics. The complex interactions between endocrine cells and immune cells are clearly significant for the maintenance of insulin release.
It is already known that obesity and diabetes lead to an excessive, pathological activation of the immune system in which the messenger substance IL1-beta plays a central role. This results in the death of insulin-producing cells. However, if IL1-beta is blocked, diabetes and its complications – in particular cardiovascular diseases – can be inhibited. Diabetic inflammatory reactions are already finding use in clinical applications.
Original source
Elise Dalmas et al.
Interleukin-33-Activated Islet-Resident Innate Lymphoid Cells Promote Insulin Secretion Through Myeloid Cell Retinoic Acid Production
Immunity (2017), doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2017.10.015
Further information
Prof. Dr. Marc Donath, University of Basel, Department of Biomedicine / University Hospital Basel, Endocrinology and Diabetes, Tel. +41 61 265 50 78, email: marc.donath@usb.ch
https://www.unibas.ch/en/News-Events/News/Uni-Research/Diabetes-Immune-System-Ca...
Criteria of this press release:
Journalists, Scientists and scholars
Biology, Medicine, Nutrition / healthcare / nursing
transregional, national
Research results, Scientific Publications
English
You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.
You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).
Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.
You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).
If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).
