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Home > About Breakthrough T1D UK & our impact > Our research > Research projects > What causes immune cells to attack beta cells in the pancreas?
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Type 1 diabetes (T1D) develops when a person’s immune system attacks and destroys healthy cells in the pancreas. This means the body can’t make enough of the hormone insulin, which helps to control the amount of sugar in the blood at any one time.
Immune cells travel around the body in the blood, signalling molecules are responsible for telling the immune cells which target area to move to. L-selectin is a type of signalling molecule that is involved in the movement of immune cells.
We know that L-selectin is involved in the development of some autoimmune disorders, various types of cancer and in response to infection. Now researchers are looking into the potential role of L-selectin in the development and progression of T1D.
For the first time researchers led by Dr Kathleen Gillespie and funded by Breakthrough T1D will investigate the role of L-selectin in the development of T1D. The team’s initial data suggests that the L-selectin pathway works differently in people with T1D compared to those without. This project will help to increase our knowledge of how L-selectin levels and functions may be different for people with T1D and those at risk of developing T1D compared to those without.
In this project, Kathleen and her team will explore the role of L-selectin in four main areas; 1) within the blood, 2) within different immune cells, 3) within the pancreas 4) in people with T1Dwho have received an immune system-targeted therapy. The team will also investigate the possibility of using L-selectin as a marker for T1D risk that could be used in future screening tests.
The team hope that by understanding more about L-selectin they will be able to explain the differences in how T1D presents, why some people develop T1D very young while others develop it later in life. As well as exploring the potential to use L-selectin as a marker for risk of the speed at which people might develop T1D.
We are also funding another project being run by Dr Kathleen Gillespie and her team, to investigate whether measuring changes in pancreatic function over time could help people at risk of developing T1D understand how their disease will progress.
Dr Kathleen Gillespie will be working on this project in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Exeter, the University of Cardiff and the University of Lincoln.
Dr Kathleen Gillespie and her team will investigate whether existing tests could help predict how quickly a person in the early stages of T1D will progress.
Dr Matthew Anson is studying whether hybrid closed loop technology, also known as an artificial pancreas, affects the worsening of diabetic eye disease.
Dr Samet Sahin is developing a simple tool to allow healthcare professionals to quickly and easily check someone’s C-peptide levels, a measure of how much insulin they are releasing.
Dr Thomas George Hill is studying a type of pancreatic islet cell, called a delta cell, which he thinks could be targeted with a treatment to help prevent low blood glucose in type 1 diabetes.
