Enzyme

Autophagy

Type 2 diabetes

Endocrinology

Apoptosis

Beta cell

NOD mice

Pancreas

Biology

Internal medicine

Type 1 diabetes

Diabetes mellitus

Medicine

Islet

Lysosome

Biochemistry

Diabetologia

Aims/hypothesis Pancreatic beta cells are subjected to exogenous damaging factors such as proinflammatory cytokines or excess glucose that can cause accumulation of damage-inducing reactive oxygen species during the pathogenesis of diabetes. We and others have shown that beta cell autophagy can reduce reactive oxygen species to protect against apoptosis. While impaired islet autophagy has been demonstrated in human type 2 diabetes, it is unknown if islet autophagy is perturbed in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes. We hypothesised that beta cell autophagy is dysfunctional in type 1 diabetes, and that there is a progressive loss during early diabetes development. Methods Pancreases were collected from chloroquine-injected and non-injected non-obese diabetes-resistant (NOR) and non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice. Age- and BMI-matched pancreas tissue sections from human organ donors ( N = 34) were obtained from the Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes (nPOD). Tissue sections were stained with antibodies...

Pancreatic beta cell autophagy is impaired in type 1 diabetes