Why does the immune system attack the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, in the case of individuals with Type 1 Diabetes?
In: 26
Son has T1. It was suggested that some uncommon viruses can resemble the pancreas cells, causing the body to consider them foreign well after they fought off the virus. Our son contracted hand, foot, and mouth when he was young after a kids party. He dealt with that for a week or two, and about 4-6 weeks later, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
Even if that was the cause, it doesn’t solve the problem. Getting something that resembles something inside some kids…isn’t something you can really gauge, measure, or prevent. Your only options are to suppress the immune system (dangerous and untargeted), supplement the body with insulin (tedious and impermanent), or figure out how to re-add the beta cells in a manner that they won’t be attacked (either retrain immune system or protect the beta cells from the immune system).
Those last items are generalizations. We don’t have a solution yet, but there’s a lot in the works and in trials. We have our fingers crossed that technology progresses enough in the coming years to at least “mitigate” the condition, if not cure it.
Latest Answers