title: Immune-mediated β-cell death in type 1 diabetes: lessons from human β-cell lines.
abstract: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic, multifactorial disorder that results from a contretemps of genetic and environmental factors. Autoimmune attack and functional inhibition of the insulin-producing β cells in the pancreas lead to the inability of β cells to metabolize glucose, and thus results the hallmark clinical symptom of diabetes: abnormally high blood glucose levels. Treatment and protection from T1D require a detailed knowledge of the molecular effectors and the mechanism(s) of cell death leading to β-cell demise. Primary islets and surrogate β cells have been utilized in vitro to investigate in isolation-specific mechanisms associated with progression to T1D in vivo. This review focuses on the data obtained from these experiments. Studies using transformed β cells of human sources are described.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Immunology, and Laboratory Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Yaíma L
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Lightfoot
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Clayton E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Mathews
mesh_terms: D015551:Autoimmunity / Q000502:physiology; D016923:Cell Death / Q000276:immunology*; D002460:Cell Line; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D050417:Insulin-Secreting Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D010179:Pancreas / Q000378:metabolism*