Recent evidence derived from animal models of type 1 diabetes indicates that interaction of immune cells expressing the protein known as NKG2D with cells expressing other proteins, termed NKG2D ligands, plays an essential role in initiating diabetes development. In an effort to define more precisely the role these proteins play in type 1 diabetes progression, we developed novel mouse models. Based on results generated with these experimental models, we believe that expression of NKG2D ligands expressed on infiltrating immune cells within pancreatic islets is critical to the development of type 1 diabetes. Here we propose to confirm there is NKG2D ligand expression in the pancreas of type 1 diabetic donors.
