Adaptive immune regulation in autoimmune diabetes

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by the loss of insulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells. The pathogenesis of T1D is complex and multifactorial and involves a genetic susceptibility that predisposes to abnormal immune responses in the presence of ill-defined environmental insults to the pancreatic islets. This review discusses how adaptive immunoregulatory T cells contribute to the modulation of the development and evolution of T1D, together with potential approaches that target these cells for new therapies in the disease. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.