Anti-Islet Autoantibodies Trigger Autoimmune Diabetes in the Presence of an Increased Frequency of Islet-Reactive CD4 T Cells

Abstract

B cells can promote type 1 diabetes by secreting anti-islet autoantibodies that act in an FcγR-mediated manner to enhance the expansion of islet-reactive CD4 T cells and cooperate with inherited defects in thymic and peripheral CD4 T-cell tolerance. Cooperation between inherited variants affecting CD4 T-cell tolerance and anti-islet autoantibodies should be examined in epidemiological studies and in studies examining the efficacy of B-cell depletion.