Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor signaling regulates the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes

1. To test the hypothesis that vascular endothelial cells in the pancreas of recent-onset diabetic patients have increased expression of VEGF receptors (VEGF-R).
2. To examine the expression of VEGF or VEGF-R on islet-invading CD4+ T lymphocytes.
3. To examine the utility of TCR repertoire between different T cell subsets as a marker of T1D disease initiation and progression by high throughput sequencing.