Evidence for in vivo primed and expanded autoreactive T cells as a specific feature of patients with type 1 diabetes.

Identifying beta cell autoantigen-reactive T cells that are involved in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes has been troublesome for many laboratories. Disease-relevant autoreactive T cells should be in vivo Ag experienced. The aim of this study was to test this hypothesis and then use this principle as a strategy for identifying diabetes-relevant autoreactive T cells.