Sensory neurons link the nervous system and autoimmune diabetes.
The initial factors that trigger the autoimmune response against pancreatic islets in the nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse are still unknown. In this issue of Cell, propose that a defect in a subset of sensory neurons innervating the pancreas plays a major role in initiating the chain of events that will lead to local inflammation, islet destruction, and autoimmune diabetes.
Bour-Jordan
Helene
H
UCSF Diabetes Center, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, Box 0540, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Bluestone
Jeffrey A
JA
D000818:Animals; D015551:Autoimmunity; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000503:physiopathology; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000276:immunology / Q000294:innervation*; D051379:Mice; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology*; D009490:Neurosecretory Systems / Q000502:physiology; D050916:TRPV Cation Channels / Q000235:genetics
D050916:TRPV Cation Channels; C493921:TRPV1 protein, mouse