Science Signaling Podcast for 21 June 2016: Nanoparticles to treat type 1 diabetes.

This Podcast features an interview with Francisco Quintana, senior author of a Research Article that appears in the 21 June 2016 issue of Science Signaling, about a nanoparticle-based potential treatment strategy for type 1 diabetes (T1D). T1D is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the insulin-secreting β cells of the pancreas. Strategies that induce immune tolerance to pancreatic β cells would be effective treatments for T1D. Yeste et al coated gold nanoparticles with a molecule that induces immune tolerance and a β cell antigen that is commonly targeted by autoimmune T cells in T1D. When administered to mice that are genetically predisposed to spontaneously develop T1D, the nanoparticles suppressed the development of disease, reduced the activity of autoimmune T cells, and promoted the activity of regulatory T cells that suppress the autoimmune response. In addition to being translated into the clinic for treating T1D, this strategy could be adapted to restore immune tolerance in other diseases of autoimmunity by replacing the β cell antigen with other self-antigens.Listen to Podcast.