Featured Article
Genetic mapping of the T-cell beta-selection checkpoint violation in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice
Justine X. Chia, Mary A. Yui, and Ellen Rothenberg
Currently, as many as three million Americans have Type 1 diabetes (T1D), an autoimmune disease which prevents the body from producing insulin, in turn preventing the body from converting sugar and starches into usable energy sources. T1D can be traced back to deficiencies in early thymic T cell development, during which candidate cells must pass through various checkpoints before being permitted to differentiate into mature, functioning T cells. T1D is caused by an uncaught checkpoint violation, allowing development of abberrant T-cells which attack and destroy insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. This article seeks to identify the genes which cause susceptibility to T1D, using NOD mice as an animal model.