Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a life-long disease where the body loses the ability to produce the essential hormone insulin because the immune system mistakenly destroys the beta cells in the pancreas. T1D is often diagnosed in children, affecting one in 300 Canadians and approximately 13,600 in Manitoba alone.

While insulin is required to manage the disease, it is not a cure. Children and adults living with T1D are at risk for a variety of health complications and there is currently no way to prevent this disease.

Remarkably, some of the beta cells are actually culprits in triggering T1D. These harmful beta cells acquire a cellular sickness that promotes disease development. Removal of these sick beta cells with drug therapy spares the healthy ones and prevents the disease, akin to getting rid of rotten apples to save the good ones. However, these drugs are currently limited in their ability to specifically target the sick beta cells, hampering efforts to bring this promising new approach to the clinic.

All cells produce and export small cargo units that are like mail packages or shipping containers to communicate with other cells. Interestingly, this cargo delivery system can be programmed with specific addresses in order to deliver cargo to specific cell types in the body.

This project seeks to harness the cell’s cargo delivery system as a better approach to target drugs to sick beta cells for T1D preventive therapy. These studies will take us a step closer towards safe and effective ways to prevent T1D.