The Kiss of Death

Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology have designed a method to video the inside of the pancreas using a two-photon microscope. The videos have provided a number of insights into the research of type 1 diabetes. In the movies, objects resembling ants can be seen furiously scurrying around in search of prey. The ants are actually immune system T cells, the body’s cellular soldiers and the prey is insulin-producing beta cells. The T cells are wrongly attacking and destroying the beta cells. Before this method, researchers could only view the T cells from still images or under a microscope. Now, however, they are capable of viewing the entire process of the development of type 1 diabetes within the pancreas of a rat.

The videos revealed valuable new insights on the specific behaviors of cells within the pancreas. In particular, they were able to shed light on how the beta cells eventually die and how the immune T cells access the pancreas from the blood stream. The researchers were able to determine the specific blood vessels where the T cells enter the pancreas and how the cells launch their attack. It was also noted that the T cells seem to move randomly throughout the pancreas until they come across the beta cells, where the slow down and release toxic substances that eventually kill the beta cells. The researchers were surprised to find that this “kiss of death” takes quite a long time to proceed. This means that the development of type 1 diabetes starts long before clinical diagnosis. Typically, around 90 percent of beta cells are destroyed in humans before the disease is recognized. This is advantageous to clinicians because that means there is a wide range of time in which the disease can be caught before the amount of beta cells reaches a critically low number. The researchers hope to develop methods of prevention of the T cells’ access to the pancreas.

I thought the article was particularly interesting because diabetes runs in my family. Numerous family members have been affected by this disease and my uncle even had to have both of his feet amputated as a result of the disease. I fully intend on researching diabetes once I graduate to hopefully aid in the extinction of this disease.

The image above is a still shot from a video of T cells attacking pancreatic islets. The article can be viewed at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111201125147.htm.