Type 1 diabetes biology
How a person develops T1D
The biology behind type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease.
Autoimmune diseases occur when a person’s immune system wrongly attacks the body’s healthy cells, tissues, and organs.
Balance is key to the immune system. In a healthy person, the immune system is active enough to identify and eliminate threats, but not so active that the immune system begins to recognize and attack its own cells.
This balance is lost in people with T1D, and the immune cells attack the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.
T1D is just one of many autoimmune disorders. Others include celiac disease, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Is type 1 diabetes genetic?
There are a variety of factors that contribute to the development of T1D—including family history and environmental factors.
The stages of type 1 diabetes
T1D doesn’t show up overnight—it develops in stages over time. A simple blood test can identify proteins in the blood called autoantibodies. These proteins may signal that the body’s immune system is attacking cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. If a person has two or more persistent autoantibodies, it’s very likely they’ll develop T1D.
Stage 1 Type 1 Diabetes
In stage 1, a person has no symptoms and their blood glucose levels are normal, but blood tests show multiple autoantibodies.
Stage 2 Type 1 Diabetes
In stage 2, a person has no symptoms, but their blood sugar levels start to become abnormal. Blood tests at this stage show autoantibodies, usually multiple.
Stage 3 Type 1 Diabetes
In stage 3, a person may show symptoms of type 1 diabetes, and their blood sugar levels are elevated, requiring insulin therapy. While many people have autoantibodies when they are diagnosed with stage 3 T1D, not all will as autoantibodies may become absent over time. Eventually, people with stage 3 T1D will require insulin therapy as their blood sugar rises.
The role of insulin
Insulin is a hormone produced by beta cells in the pancreas that helps regulate blood-sugar levels.
Your body breaks down the food you eat into glucose and releases it into your bloodstream. Insulin is the “key” that unlocks the cells in your body to allow that glucose to enter and be used for energy. Without insulin, or enough insulin, glucose levels in your blood rise.
People living with type 1 diabetes don’t produce insulin in their body. Therefore, they need to take insulin to survive.
Type 1 diabetes complications
A look at the most common type 1 diabetes complications and ways they can be prevented or reduced.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a long-term complication of T1D. CVD includes coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and peripheral artery disease.
For people living with T1D, eye disease is a troubling reality, but early detection and timely treatment can reduce the risk of blindness by over 95 percent.
Nearly one out of three people with T1D develop kidney disease. Fortunately, most people with T1D and kidney disease don’t end up with kidney failure.
More T1D basics
Common warning signs of type 1 diabetes
Therapies for treating T1D
Tests and other factors that lead to a type 1 diabetes diagnosis
Statistics on T1D in the U.S. and around the world
Answers to your questions about type 1 diabetes
The global scope and impact of T1D
Research to cure type 1 diabetes
We envision a world where the burden of type 1 diabetes no longer exists.
It’s a world where people don’t have to manage their diabetes—don’t take insulin, don’t have blood-sugar highs and lows, and don’t develop complications.
That’s how we define cures for type 1 diabetes, and it requires continual advancement on three fronts: early detection, disease-modifying therapies, and cell therapies.
