New Type 1 Research Discovery Involving Regulatory T Cells

Center Director Jeffrey Bluestone, PhD and his lab staff have been leading the way in exploring regulatory T cells. These cells are instrumental in suppressing an autoimmune response and attack on insulin-producing beta cells. In the July issue of Nature Immunology, this research team announced its most recent breakthrough -- how regulatory T cells sometimes shift from their usual protective state to a destructive state -- killing cells and causing autoimmune disease. This change of function involves a protein called FoxP3 made by the regulatory T cell. When regulatory T cells quit making FoxP3, these normally good cells turn bad, becoming memory T cells that destroy beta cells in type 1 diabetes. [ UCSF News Office Story ] Additionally, these investigators are rapidly advancing research on the beneficial effect of increasing the numbers of protective regulatory T cells. In approximately six months, they expect to launch the first human clinical trials using an individual’s own regulatory T cells.