title: [Role of the thymus in the physiopathology and in the prevention of type 1 diabetes].
abstract: There is now accumulating experimental evidence that, much more than a breakdown of peripheral immunological self-tolerance, the development of the diabetogenic autoimmune response (in type 1 diabetes) first results from a thymus dysfunction in the establishment of central beta-cell self-tolerance. Based on the homology between dominant thymic self-antigens and peripheral autoantigens, on the one hand, and the difference between the immune responses elicited by these antigens (respectively, tolerance vs immunity), a novel strategy is proposed for the development of a "negative" self-vaccine able to (re)install the state of immune self-tolerance to pancreatic islet beta cells and prevent type 1 diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Université de Liège, Centre d'immunologie, Institut de pathologie, CHU Sart Tilman, 4000 Liège I, Belgique. vgeenen@ulg.ac.be
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Geenen
mesh_terms: D000917:Antibody Formation / Q000276:immunology; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000276:immunology; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D016233:Immunotherapy, Active / Q000379:methods; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D001324:Autoantigens