A research study funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) suggests that a common intestinal bacteria may provide some protection from developing Type 1 diabetes. The findings provide an important step towards understanding how and why Type 1 diabetes develops in people, and may lead to potential cures.
The study, reported this week in the journal Nature, lends further support to the "hygiene hypothesis," that exposure to an appropriate amount and composition of bacteria may be important to living a healthy life, and that susceptibility to Type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune disorders may actually be caused by a lack of exposure to certain parasites and microbes.
In the study, researchers at YaleUniversity and the University of Chicago found that exposure to certain bacteria will trigger an immune system response in mice. That response is believed to be what prevents autoimmune disorders -- conditions where the immune system attacks healthy cells in the body. In people with Type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks the beta cells in the pancreas, stopping a person's ability to detect glucose and produce insulin. For the purposes of the study, the bacteria used were harmless microbes typically found in the human intestine. The scientists suggest that safe, measured exposure to certain bacteria may lower the risk of immune disorders.
