果冻影院

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, which means it is caused by the body鈥檚 own immune system attacking healthy body tissues. People with the condition are unable to produce the hormone insulin, which is essential to control and use glucose as energy.聽

Abatacept is an immunosuppressive drug that subdues the aberrant immune response in people with autoimmune diseases, and identifying a biomarker will enable clinicians to give the drug to those who would positively respond.聽

The research group, led by Professor Lucy Walker (Institute of Immunity & Transplantation), built on their discovery in 2014, which found that certain immune cells, known as 鈥榝ollicular helper T cells鈥� (Tfh), can cause Type 1 diabetes by triggering the destruction of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

In this latest study, published in聽Nature Immunology, researchers at聽果冻影院 in collaboration with scientists from King鈥檚 College London and AstraZeneca,聽wanted to find out why some people with Type 1 diabetes responded well to Abatacept, while others did not.聽

Explaining the study鈥檚 focus,聽Professor Walker聽said: 鈥淎batacept is already widely used to treat other autoimmune conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis.聽

鈥淓arly tests in people with Type 1 diabetes have found the drug is not suitable for routine use because the response is very variable - some people benefit a lot, while others not at all.聽

鈥淏eing able to tell in advance who is likely to respond may reignite interest in this therapy for those with diabetes.鈥�

For the study, blood samples from people with Type 1 diabetes, who had taken part in a clinical trial of Abatacept were studied. The team discovered that the numbers of Tfh cells were reduced by Abatacept treatment and the cells鈥� phenotype (biochemical characteristics) had been changed.聽

Machine learning was then used to compare blood samples from people who showed a good response to Abatacept with those who showed a poor response.聽

To the team鈥檚 surprise, the machine learning algorithm was able to detect differences in the profile of the Tfh cells, even before treatment, which could be used as biomarkers to establish whether someone was likely to respond to Abatacept.聽

Professor Walker said: 鈥淥ur new work suggests that by analysing these T cells, and looking at the markers they express, we can make predictions about how well people will respond to Abatacept.聽

鈥淭he next step will be to test this in more people and explore whether it works for other therapies and other autoimmune diseases.聽

鈥淣ew improved versions of Abatacept have now been developed and it will be particularly exciting to see if the biomarker approach is applicable to these.鈥�

In the UK, there are around 400,000 people with the Type 1 diabetes, including 29,000 children. As those with the condition cannot produce insulin, glucose builds up in the bloodstream, and over time can cause serious kidney, heart and eye damage.聽聽

In 1999, Professor Walker identified signals that controlled 鈥榝ollicular helper T cell鈥� behaviour, and later found that these cells appear in high numbers in those people with Type 1 diabetes.聽

She added: 鈥淭he project has been years in the making and has relied heavily on collaboration between researchers, clinicians, bioinformaticians and industry partners.鈥�

Professor Walker鈥檚 research team are part of the Institute of Immunity & Transplantation, a research department of the Division of Infection & Immunity, based at the Royal Free Hospital, London. The project received funding from Diabetes UK, AstraZeneca, the Medical Research Council and the Rosetrees Trust.

Links

• Profile: Professor Lucy Walker
• 果冻影院 Institute of Immunity & Transplantation

Image

• 'Diabetes, blood, finger, glucose'.聽Credit: TesaPhotography on聽. CC BY 2.0

Further information

• Source:
• Media Contact: Henry Killworth, Tel: +44 7881 833274