Immune Response to Gut Microbes Linked to Diabetes Risk

Researchers find that it’s not just high-risk genes, but how children’s bodies respond to their own intestinal microbiota that relates to future diagnoses of type 1 diabetes.

Written byAbby Olena, PhD

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While scientists have evidence that the composition of the gut microbiome is connected to a variety of autoimmune diseases, understanding how bugs in the intestine might exert influence on the body’s attacks on its own tissues has been tricky. A new study, published today (February 1) in Science Immunology, points to one possible link between autoimmunity and microbiota.

Type 1 diabetes is typically a childhood-onset disease in which the immune system destroys the beta cells of the pancreas, which are responsible for making insulin. Human leukocyte antibody (HLA) genes play a large part in how the immune system distinguishes self from non-self and people with certain variants of this gene have a higher risk of developing of type 1 diabetes. The authors of the latest report showed that, for children carrying these HLA variants, that risk is also linked with how their bodies react to commensal ...

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Meet the Author

Abby Olena, PhD
As a freelancer for The Scientist, Abby reports on new developments in life science for the website. She has a PhD from Vanderbilt University and got her start in science journalism as the Chicago Tribune’s AAAS Mass Media Fellow in 2013. Following a stint as an intern for The Scientist, Abby was a postdoc in science communication at Duke University, where she developed and taught courses to help scientists share their research. In addition to her work as a science journalist, she leads science writing and communication workshops and co-produces a conversational podcast. She is based in Alabama.
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