Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Revisiting the role of inflammation in the loss of pancreatic β-cells in T1DM

Nature Reviews Endocrinology volume 16, pages 611–612 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Islet inflammation (insulitis) in type 1 diabetes mellitus is triggered by a deleterious dialogue between β-cells and the immune system, inducing β-cell dysfunction and death. This concept, outlined in our 2009 Review, has been confirmed and extended. Here, we provide a brief update of the field and outline key pending questions.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: An updated view of the dialogue between β-cells and the immune system.

References

  1. Eizirik, D. L., Colli, M. L. & Ortis, F. The role of inflammation in insulitis and β-cell loss in type 1 diabetes. Nat. Rev. Endocrinol. 5, 219–226 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Oram, R. A., Sims, E. K. & Evans-Molina, C. Beta cells in type 1 diabetes: mass and function; sleeping or dead? Diabetologia 62, 567–577 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Eizirik, D. L., Pasquali, L. & Cnop, M. Pancreatic β-cells in type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus: different pathways to failure. Nat. Rev. Endocrinol. 16, 349–362 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Ramos-Rodríguez, M. et al. The impact of proinflammatory cytokines on the β-cell regulatory landscape provides insights into the genetics of type 1 diabetes. Nat. Genet. 51, 1588–1595 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. James, E. A., Mallone, R., Kent, S. C. & DiLorenzo, T. P. T-cell epitopes and neo-epitopes in type 1 diabetes: a comprehensive update and reappraisal. Diabetes 69, 1311–1335 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Op de Beeck, A. & Eizirik, D. L. Viral infections in type 1 diabetes mellitus — why the β cells? Nat. Rev. Endocrinol. 12, 263–273 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Marroqui, L. et al. Interferon-α mediates human beta cell HLA class I overexpression, endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis, three hallmarks of early human type 1 diabetes. Diabetologia 60, 656–667 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Coomans de Brachène, A. et al. Preclinical evaluation of tyrosine kinase 2 inhibitors for human beta-cell protection in type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Obes. Metab. https://doi.org/10.1111/dom.14104 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Colli, M. L. et al. An integrated multi-omics approach identifies the landscape of interferon-α-mediated responses of human pancreatic beta cells. Nat. Commun. 11, 2584 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Hostens, K. et al. Exposure of human islets to cytokines can result in disproportionately elevated proinsulin release. J. Clin. Invest. 104, 67–72 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of grants from the JDRF (2-SRA-2019-834-S-B); Welbio and Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS), Belgium, grants CR-2015A-06 and CR-2019C-04; Innovate2CureType1-Dutch Diabetes Research Fundation (DDRF); and start-up funding provided by the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute. D.L.E. has also received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreements nos 115797 and 945268 (INNODIA and INNODIA HARVEST). This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and “EFPIA”, “JDRF” and “The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ULB Center for Diabetes Research, Medical Faculty, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

    Decio L. Eizirik & Maikel L. Colli

  2. Indiana Biosciences Research Institute, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Decio L. Eizirik

Authors
  1. Decio L. Eizirik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maikel L. Colli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Decio L. Eizirik or Maikel L. Colli.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Eizirik, D.L., Colli, M.L. Revisiting the role of inflammation in the loss of pancreatic β-cells in T1DM. Nat Rev Endocrinol 16, 611–612 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-020-00409-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-020-00409-6

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing