Exploring Autoimmunity: Why Good T Cells Go Bad

In type 1 diabetes, the human body turns on itself. The immune systems of people with type 1 diabetes start attacking insulin-producing beta cells, as though they were the bacteria and viruses the immune system is supposed to fight off.

Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center are puzzling out what causes the immune system to turn on what it's meant to protect. The lab of Tom Serwold, Ph.D. studies why T cells, the immune system warriors, mistake beta cells for the enemy.

[warsawgirl]

Thanks -- keep it up! Question for you: How specific is the action of T cells, ie, are those that are primed to attack beta cells programmed for beta cells and/or related cells *only* (in which case removing those T cells would have a smaller effect on overall immune response)? Curious! Obviously a NON scientist here, even if I was raised by a geneticist and microbiologist :-)