Immune intervention in type I diabetes mellitus — current clinical and experimental approaches

Summary

Experiments with animal models have proven that intervention protocols avoiding immunosuppressants can effectively prevent immune-mediated diabetes.

These new approaches aim at either supporting the defence of islet cells against inflammatory attack or at modulating the type of the immune response to beta cells towards a more benign quality. Another approach is to reduce the exposure to putative diabetogenic dietary factors during infancy. All of the three strategies are presently tried in clinical studies.

Key words

Type I diabetes - immunosuppression - nicotinamide - immunomodulation