Immunotherapy of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

Type 1 diabetes mellitus is caused by the T cell mediated autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing β cells of the islets of Langerhans within the pancreas. Current immunotherapy strategies are aimed at directly inactivating the autoreactive T cells and/or inducing T cells with regulatory capabilities. At the preclinical level, several strategies that employ TCR antagonists — including monoclonal antibodies, autoantigen-specific peptides and soluble TCR ligands — are showing promise and being developed for clinical application. Several of these approaches employing monoclonal antibodies against the TCR–CD3 complex or soluble peptide antigens are producing favorable results in the clinic.