autoimmune attack

Scientists are shedding light on how type-1 diabetes begins. Doctors have known the disease is caused by an autoimmune attack on the pancreas, but the exact trigger of the attack has been unclear.

Now, a new study in mice implicates the immune signal interferon-alpha as an early culprit in a chain of events that upend sugar metabolism and make patients dependent on lifelong insulin injections.

Investigators have found that infusions of a particular bone marrow stem cell appeared to protect gastrointestinal tissue from autoimmune attack in a mouse model.