I am a type 1 Diabetic. Why did my immune system target and specifically kill just the insulin secreting cells of my pancreas? Why not target other organs too?
In: Biology
Type 1 diabetes is just one of many types of autoimmune diseases, and each disease depends on which type (or types) of cell(s) the body’s immune system decided was the enemy.
Some recent research points to hybrid insulin peptides (HIPs) being a culprit in at least some forms of type 1 diabetes. Basically insulin fragments (after an enzyme has cut up insulin into smaller pieces) make a peptide bond to other peptides. These HIPs have some features that are still insulin-like, but the T-cell recognize HIPs as foreign bodies and become triggered to think that insulin is a product of a foreign cell. Since Beta cells produce insulin and insulin is considered foreign, then beta cells must be the enemy and the immune system attacks them.
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