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Interleukin-7 and Type 1 Diabetes

  • Pathogenesis of Type 1 Diabetes (A Pugliese, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Antigen-experienced T-cells directly target and destroy insulin-producing beta cells in patients with Type 1 diabetes. Consequently, T-cells are also major targets of immunomodulatory strategies that aim to prevent or delay the immune mediated loss of islet beta-cell function. These strategies have had modest success, prompting efforts into better defining the mechanisms that drive the differentiation of quiescent autoreactive clones into pathogenic effector and memory T-cells. Recent and novel findings now indicate that in addition to the classic mechanisms of antigenic recognition, autoreactive T-cell differentiation and expansion can be boosted by the homeostatic cytokine interleukin-7. In this article, we discuss recent evidence of the role of IL-7 mediated T-cell proliferation in the pathogenesis of Type 1 diabetes and the rationale for including immunomodulatory molecules targeting the IL-7/IL-7R axis in immunotherapeutic strategies to control beta-cell autoimmunity.

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Conflict of Interest

Paolo Monti and Ezio Bonifacio declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Diabetes Research Institute (DRI), IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, 20132, Milan, Italy

    Paolo Monti

  2. DFG-Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstrasse 105, 01307, Dresden, Germany

    Ezio Bonifacio

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  1. Paolo Monti
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  2. Ezio Bonifacio
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Correspondence to Paolo Monti.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Pathogenesis of Type 1 Diabetes

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Monti, P., Bonifacio, E. Interleukin-7 and Type 1 Diabetes. Curr Diab Rep 14, 518 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-014-0518-9

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