Mallone Roberto, van Endert Peter
Curr Diab Rep. 2008 Apr;8(2):101-6. doi: 10.1007/s11892-008-0019-9.
T lymphocytes' crucial role in the autoimmune process leading to insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes is now universally recognized. Research focuses on identifying pathogenic and nonpathogenic T cells, understanding how they are primed and expanded, characterizing their antigen specificity, and ultimately on devising strategies to blunt their autoaggressive action. In this review, we focus on recent progress identified in three different areas. Results obtained with transgenic mice acknowledge proinsulin's unique role in triggering autoimmunity and suggest that other beta-cell proteins are recognized as a result of epitope spreading, at least in the nonobese diabetic mouse. Progress has also been achieved by developing and validating reliable CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell tests that may prove valuable for diagnostic and prognostic purposes in the near future. Finally, recent results provide novel and important guidance for manipulating autoreactive T-cell responses against beta-cell antigens.
T淋巴细胞在导致胰岛素依赖型1型糖尿病的自身免疫过程中的关键作用现已得到普遍认可。研究重点在于识别致病性和非致病性T细胞，了解它们如何被启动和扩增，确定其抗原特异性，最终设计出削弱其自身攻击作用的策略。在本综述中，我们关注在三个不同领域取得的最新进展。转基因小鼠实验结果证实了胰岛素原在引发自身免疫中的独特作用，并表明至少在非肥胖糖尿病小鼠中，其他β细胞蛋白是由于表位扩展而被识别的。通过开发和验证可靠的CD4+和CD8+T细胞检测方法也取得了进展，这些检测方法在不久的将来可能对诊断和预后具有重要价值。最后，最近的研究结果为操纵针对β细胞抗原的自身反应性T细胞反应提供了新的重要指导。
