National Diabetes Awareness Month: Taking Early Action on Type 1 Diabetes
November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness of diabetes, recognize the experiences of those living with the disease, and highlight the research moving us toward a better future.
This year's theme is Early Action on Diabetes and that means we're focusing on the research working to stop Type 1 diabetes (T1D) before it starts.
Our mission is to connect donors with early-career scientists, enabling them to perform peer-reviewed, novel research designed to prevent and cure T1D, minimize its complications, and improve quality of life for those living with the disease.
Every project we choose to fund undergoes a rigorous review by our volunteer Scientific Review Committee (SRC), made up of leading experts from across the country. Their reviews help identify studies that demonstrate innovation, scientific feasibility, and the potential to make a meaningful impact.
Preventing T1D Before It Starts
Preventing T1D requires understanding the complex biological processes that cause the disease to develop in the first place. DRC-funded scientists are investigating those processes from multiple angles, from the behavior of cells within the pancreas to the immune system and even the relationship between the gut microbiome and T1D.
Here are five projects you can contribute to today that are focused on preventing diabetes from ever starting:
The pancreas has several different cell types that secret hormones to regulate blood glucose levels. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is caused by the destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells, which are responsible for lowering blood glucose levels. However, there is growing evidence that alpha cells, which secrete glucagon to raise blood glucose levels, no longer function properly in patients with T1D. Since both cell types work together to maintain proper blood glucose levels, it is important to understand how beta and alpha cells function in the context of T1D.
Dr. Januszkiewicz recently identified KLF4 as an important DNA-binding protein essential for proper alpha cell identity and function in mice. Removing this protein from the alpha cells results in decreased expression of key alpha cell genes. While KLF4 is known to regulate gene expression, it's precise role in maintaining alpha cell identity and function remains unclear.
The goal of Dr. Januszkiewicz’s project is to characterize the function of KLF4 in alpha cell function using state-of-the-art T1D models and human stem cell-derived islet cells. He seeks to understand the underlying roles of this important protein in the alpha cells and how it might contribute to T1D disease progression when dysregulated. Understanding how KLF4 regulates alpha cell in the context of T1D could provide valuable insights into disease mechanisms and potential therapeutic strategies.
Most research in type 1 diabetes (T1D) focuses on the interaction between the immune system and beta cells. Recently, more data has come out that suggests that a different cell type in the pancreas, called alpha cells, may be the first to become dysfunctional and be targeted by the immune system first. Alpha cells secrete glucagon to raise blood glucose levels.
Dr. Kravets hypothesizes that alpha cell dysregulation and specific immune targeting may be a trigger for T1D. She is using an innovative, multi-modal approach to investigate the connection between alpha cells, beta cells, and immune cells through functional microscopy, immunological assays and network theory. Dr. Kravets’s study is the first to look at alpha cells as a potential trigger for T1D through a systems biology approach.
If alpha cells can trigger the onset of T1D, this opens up a brand new paradigm of potential prevention and treatment of T1D.
In type 1 diabetes (T1D), the T cells of the immune system mistakenly attack insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. In addition to cells essential to metabolism, the pancreas is also home to resident immune cells called macrophages. Macrophages are essential at keeping the remaining pancreatic cells safe by surveilling for pathogens and orchestrating immune responses when necessary. Dr. Pavel Zakharov hypothesizes that pancreatic macrophages may be essential for quelling the immune response of potentially autoreactive T cells, which recognize and attack beta cells, ultimately causing T1D.
Using single-cell RNA sequencing, Dr. Zakharov was able to identify a potential population of macrophages within the pancreas that produce signals that suppress T cell attacks. Building on this new knowledge, Dr. Zakharov’s project proposes to further characterize the mechanism by which these cells can deter autoimmune attack, and understand the subsequent behavior of turned-off autoimmune T cells.
If successful, this research could uncover a new therapeutic avenue for preventing or slowing T1D progression by stopping harmful autoimmune T cells from continuing their attack on insulin-producing beta cells. Ultimately, learning how to harness this natural protective mechanism could provide a new way to intervene in T1D before significant beta cell loss occurs.
A burgeoning and highly impactful area of research is on the process of autophagy, which is the process of clearing and recycling cellular debris. Dr. Lu is focusing on the process of clearing and recycling of cellular debris by the mitochondria, the “powerhouse” of the cell. He found that a protein essential for this process, BNIP3, is upregulated in healthy beta cells, the essential pancreatic cells that are lost in T1D. When beta cells are deficient in BNIP3, they are highly inflamed, which could contribute to bringing an immune response.
Dr. Lu is hypothesizing that BNIP3 is downregulated in beta cells in T1D, and may contribute to the immune system targeting of beta cells. He will work to identify the contribution of BNIP3 to T1D.
The significance of this project is that since mitochondrial autophagy has not been explored in T1D research before, this line of research opens up a new avenue of therapeutic intervention and prevention for T1D.
The microbiome, composed of billions of microorganisms that reside in the gut, can have both beneficial and detrimental effects on human health. One way it influences health is by metabolizing foods and other molecules into compounds known as ‘postbiotics’. Dr. Mine found that a particular postbiotic, isoLCA, has an immunomodulatory effect. He found that isoLCA reduces levels of a pro-inflammatory molecule that promotes the activation of inflammatory immune cells.
Since these inflammatory immune cells are responsible for T1D, Dr. Mine hypothesizes that treatment isoLCA could prevent the inflammatory immune cells from being activated, therefore, preventing the onset of T1D. Dr. Mine’s will assess the therapeutic potential of isoLCA to reduce immune cell activation and prevent the development of T1D.
Choose the Research You Want to Support
We allow our donors to connect directly with the science that matters most to them by choosing the research project they want to support.
Our new project search feature makes that even easier. You can explore DRC-funded research and filter projects based on their goals, technology, novel methods, and more. Whether you are passionate about prevention, better treatments, reducing complications, or finding a cure, you can discover innovative scientists working toward that goal and help move their ideas forward.
Why DRC Funds the Full Picture
Prevention is an important part of the future of T1D research, but it is only one piece of the puzzle.
For people already living with Type 1 diabetes, better treatments and technologies can make a profound difference today. Research into complications can help people live longer, healthier lives. Earlier diagnosis can prevent dangerous outcomes. And ultimately, research toward a cure could transform what it means to live with T1D altogether.
That is why DRC supports research across the full spectrum: prevention, treatment, complications, and a cure.
Take Action This November
National Diabetes Awareness Month is an opportunity to learn, share, and take action. For DRC, that means continuing to invest in promising ideas at the earliest stages, when researchers often need support the most.
By funding innovative early-career scientists, we can investigate how T1D begins, develop better ways to treat it, reduce its complications, and continue pursuing what everyone affected by Type 1 diabetes ultimately wants: a cure.
This November, explore the research happening right now and choose the project you want to help move forward.
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