Washington DC : Scientists have found that a set of bacteria in our body, known as microbiota, can also protect us against the development of type 1 diabetes, reports ANI.
A research team comprising of Inserm, Paris Descartes University and the CNRS through collaboration with teams from China and Sweden, and coordinated by Julien Diana is focusing on a category of antimicrobial peptides, i.e. cathelicidins.
Apart from their protective function, these peptides have also exhibited immunoregulatory abilities against several autoimmune diseases. As such, scientists hypothesise that cathelicidins may be involved in the control of type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease where certain cells in the immune system attack beta cells in the pancreas which secrete insulin.
To combat pathogens, the immune system has developed various mechanisms to detect, defend against and even destroy micro-organisms that are harmful to the body. This includes antimicrobial peptides and natural proteins that destroy pathogenic bacteria by disrupting their cellular membrane.
