Scientists agree that there is a genetic influence in type 1 diabetes. The disease is an autoimmune disease, meaning that the body attacks itself. In the case of type 1 diabetes, its the islet in the pancreas where the beta cells are located. This attack against islets created the production of antibodies that targets them.
But now, believing that there is more than just genetic predisposition, some scientists are taking another direction and looking into a family of viruses.
Just this month, a group of Finish scientists released a study. In it they describe a case that used 1,673 poop samples from 129 children who were positive for antibodies against islets and 3,108 more poop samples from 282 children without. That’s a lot of poop, 4,781 samples if you were wondering. Using advanced techniques in molecular biology, the scientists were able to screen for the presence of enterovirus RNA.
But, what is an enterovirus?
Enteroviruses are a type of virus characterized by having a single strand of RNA (ribonucleic acid) and are associated with various human diseases. Furthermore, enteroviroses have that name by the way they enter the body: through the intestine.
OK, so how does all this come together?
The findings showed that children with antibodies against islets had more enterovirus infections than the control children. The most frequent were:
- Coxsackievirus A4 (28%)
- Coxsackievirus A2 (14%)
- Coxsackievirus A16 (11%)
The results, said the scientists, suggest that enterovirus infections detected in stool samples are related to the production of islet autoimmunity.
[expand title=”References“]
Honkanen, H., Oikarinen, S., Nurminen, N. et al. Diabetologia (2017). doi:10.1007/s00125-016-4177-z
Michael Nedelman. (2017) The search for what triggers type 1 diabetes. CNN.
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