Faculty Opinions recommendation of Reversal of autoimmune diabetes by restoration of antigen-specific tolerance using genetically modified Lactococcus lactis in mice.
The last few years have seen a wealth of novel ideas on how to treat or prevent type 1 diabetes, most of them developed and tested in the nonobese diabetic (NOD) model. This study presents one such approach: using Lactococcus lactis engineered to secrete proinsulin and interleukin-10. In combination with low-dose parenteral anti-CD3, oral administration of these bacteria to freshly diabetic mice can induce lasting remission of type 1 diabetes, possibly due to induction of proinsulin-specific regulatory T cells found in the intestinal mucosa and in islets. This Recommendation is of an article referenced in an F1000 Faculty Review also written by François-Xavier Mauvais, Julien Diana and Peter van Endert.