Type 1 diabetes is a clinically and pathologically heterogeneous disease. A large subset of individuals with Type 1 diabetes has an autoimmune form of the disease characterized by subtotal loss of beta cells and positivity for islet autoantibodies as well an increase prevalence of DR3 and DR4. We have recently characterized a pathological pattern of beta cell loss in Type 1 diabetes that does not appear to be associated with autoimmunity. We hypothesized that this represent a novel disease characterized by “degenerative” loss of beta cells possibly due to increased apoptosis (affecting also alpha and delta cells), pathogenetically distinct from the beta cell loss seen in Type 2 diabetes.

The Specific Aims Are:

1) Morphometric characterization of Pattern B type 1 diabetes in relation to the beta cell, alpha cell and delta cell relative volume as compared to controls and type 2 subjects.
2) Investigation of surviving expression at the protein and RNA level (initially these studies will be limited to survivin,
3) Comparison of apoptosis rate between different groups
4) Investigation of amiloidosis in the different groups
5) Collaborative efforts with Dr. Sechi Laboratory.