The increasing number of people suffering from metabolic syndrome and obesity is becoming a serious problem not only in developed countries, but also in developing countries. However, there are few agents currently approved for the treatment of obesity. Those that are available are mainly appetite suppressants and gastrointestinal fat blockers. We have developed a simple and rapid method for th...

The cross-reactivity of T cells with pathogen- and self-derived peptides has been implicated as a pathway involved in the development of autoimmunity. However, the mechanisms that allow the clonal T cell antigen receptor (TCR) to functionally engage multiple peptide-major histocompatibility complexes (pMHC) are unclear. Here, we studied multiligand discrimination by a human, preproinsulin react...

Using reverse transcription-PCR and molecular cloning, the complementary DNA sequence encoding preproinsulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) of a teleost, the tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) was established from liver. At the amino acid level, tilapia IGF-I shows all residues necessary for the maintenance of tertiary structure and shares about 80% identity with IGF-I from other teleosts. The B a...

OBJECTIVE Both the early steps and the high recurrence of autoimmunity once the disease is established are unexplained in human type 1 diabetes. Because CD8(+) T cells are central and insulin is a key autoantigen in the disease process, our objective was to characterize HLA class I-restricted autoreactive CD8(+) T cells specific for preproinsulin (PPI) in recent-onset and long-standing type 1 d...

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by insulin resistance and progressive beta-cell failure. Deficient insulin secretion, with increased proportions of insulin precursor molecules, is a common feature of type 2 diabetes; this could result from inappropriate beta-cell function and/or reduced beta-cell mass. Most studies using tissues from diabetic patients are retrospective, providing only limited ...

Despite extensive genetic and immunological research, the complex etiology and pathogenesis of type I diabetes remains unresolved. During the last few years, our attention has been focused on factors such as abnormalities of islet function and/or microenvironment, that could interact with immune partners in the spontaneous model of the disease, the non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse. Intriguingly, ...