UF Diabetes Researchers Test Therapy To Prevent Immune Attack Against Insulin-Producing Cells (UF Health)

sooyoungryu — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 15:11:03 +0000

It is, in a sense, like visiting the scene of an intended crime.

A University of Florida Health study details a new strategy to potentially slow the progression of Type 1 diabetes using a drug designed to act directly on insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

That is where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys those cells.

Researchers Find Vital Clue in the Progression of Type 1 Diabetes (UF Health)

sooyoungryu — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 21:19:34 +0000

Type 1 diabetes is a disease in which the body mistakenly attacks itself as the immune system destroys the pancreas’s insulin-producing cells.

Why the immune system turns against these cells remains one of the enduring questions in diabetes research. Scientists have clues, some developing theories, but no single answer.

Researchers at the University of Florida’s Diabetes Institute have added an important piece of the puzzle. In a new study, researchers found that the smallest collections of insulin-producing beta cells, as well as single cells scattered throughout the pancreas, are the first to die as the immune system launches its assault.

insulin – UF Innovate

UF Diabetes Researchers Test Therapy To Prevent Immune Attack Against Insulin-Producing Cells (UF Health)

Researchers Find Vital Clue in the Progression of Type 1 Diabetes (UF Health)