Predictors of progression to Type 1 diabetes: preparing for immune interventions in the preclinical disease phase.

Type 1 diabetes is an incurable disease associated with risk of serious acute and chronic complications. It is caused by a marked loss in insulin-producing beta cells. Immune intervention at clinical onset can transiently suppress a further decline in residual functional beta cell mass, particularly in young patients with a higher residual insulin producing capacity at start of treatment.

Omentum is better site than kidney capsule for growth, differentiation, and vascularization of immature porcine β-cell implants in immunodeficient rats.

Background: Rapid revascularization of islet cell implants is important for engraftment and subsequent survival and function. Development of an adequate vascular network is expected to allow adaptive growth of the β-cell mass. The present study compares omentum and kidney capsule as sites for growth and differentiation of immature β-cell grafts.

Heterogeneity in distribution of amyloid-positive islets in type-2 diabetic patients.

Amyloid-containing (A+) islets are characteristic for type-2 diabetes (T2D), but their abundance seems variable among patients. It is unclear whether the distribution of A+ islets follows a certain pattern or occurs randomly throughout the pancreatic organ. We investigated the topography of A+ islets in eight pancreata of T2D patients and eight sex- and age-matched non-diabetic subjects.