Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis working with diabetic mice have found dendritic cells in the islets of Langerhans carrying insulin and fragments of insulin-producing cells known as beta cells, which could trigger an immune attack on beta cells.

“Now that we’ve isolated dendritic cells from the pancreas, we can look at why they get into the pancreas and determine which of the materials that they pick up are most critical to causing this form of diabetes,” says senior author Emil R. Unanue, M.D., Professor of Pathology.

Washington University in St. Louis News Release