Potential Modulator — Dr. Teresa DiLorenzo was awarded a $1.4 million grant over four years by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to study how the severity of Type I diabetes, a disease in which the body does not produce enough insulin to control blood sugar, may be reduced by retraining the immune system to ignore rather than destroy insulin-producing pancreas cells. By harnessing the power of steady-state dendritic cells, a subset of immune cells that can prevent the immune system from destroying healthy tissue such as the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, Dr. DiLorenzo will explore how targeted modulation of the body’s own immune system may be the best medicine for this complex autoimmune disease. This work will provide insights that could possibly guide the future development of therapies for Type I diabetes that modulate the immune system. Type I diabetes, which is often referred to as juvenile diabetes since most individuals are diagnosed during childhood through their early 20s, represents a growing public health problem and is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Dr. DiLorenzo is professor of microbiology & immunology and of medicine.
Posted on: Monday, July 09, 2012