While immunoregulatory therapies hold great promise for the treatment of T1D, their inadequacy and serious toxicity have limited research efforts to find a lifelong immunosuppression approach. This has motivated investigators to search for alternative approaches such as the use of nanotechnology to deliver a wide variety of drugs and biomolecules. In recent years, there have been […]
Category: Immunology
Analysis of Immunocytes in Human Islets of Type 1 Diabetes Patients
CD4+, CD8+ T cells and B cells will be isolated from islets of patients suffering from type 1 diabetes. Laser dissection will be used to localize and isolate single cells after tissue staining and confocal imaging at high resolution. T cell receptors and B cell receptors will be isolated from single cells and expressed to […]
T follicular helper (TFH) and regulatory (TFR) cells in T1D
Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is characterized by the gradual loss of insulin-producing beta cells, which are eliminated by autoreactive cells infiltrating the pancreas. In humans and mouse models of the disease, T1D susceptibility is determined by genetic factors and is greatly influenced by environmental triggers (1). Progression to T1D is usually preceded by a period […]
Redox regulation of anti-viral responses in type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease resulting in the destruction of pancreatic beta-cells. Infiltrating leukocytes generate an inflammatory environment consisting of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and proinflammatory cytokines that collectively participate in beta-cell destruction and enhance the adaptive immune effector response of islet-specific T cells. Environmental factors that include viral infections […]
Molecular Signature of Autoimmune T cells in Type 1 Diabetes and Treg TCR deep sequencing. Detect Cd226+ Treg and Teff ininsulitis patient samples
The Brusko Lab is generally interested in the cellular immune response involved in the disease process leading to type 1 diabetes (T1D). A strong genetic association between T1D and the MHC class II gene region of the adaptive immune system has implicated coordinated T and B cell responses as a central mediator of the disease […]
Dynamic Survey of T Cell Repertoire Targeting Pancreatic Beta Cells
Our project aims to define islet-specific T cell receptor (TCR) sequence repertoires directly from pancreas to pursue two goals; 1) to identify antigens targeted by T cells contributing to the development of type 1 diabetes (T1D); and 2) to pursue the potential of TCR sequences to be used as biomarker. We hypothesize that common antigens […]
Investigation of B cells in human islets and PLN in T1
Our goal is to understand the role of autoreactive B cells in tissues draining the pancreas and their role in the type 1 diabetes (T1D) autoimmune response. While B cells are responsible for secreting autoantibodies, B cells have other functions including secretion of effector cytokines, antigen presentation and costimulation of T cell responses. Using a […]
Correlation of Islet Autoantigen-Specific T-Cell Repertoire in the Pancreatic Lymph Nodes and Peripheral Blood in T1D Autoimmunity
Islet autoantigen specific T cells can be found in both T1D patients and healthy individuals. However, these T cells with the same antigen specificity are expected to differ in their phenotypic characteristics. We will investigate CD4 and CD8 T cells in nPOD samples from T1D patients, prediabetic and healthy subjects allowing us to compare T […]