Wen-Chin Yang
Autoimmune diabetes is caused by a destruction of pancreatic β-cells by autoreactive immune response, leading to insulin insufficiency/deficiency and hyperglycemia and fatal complications. This disease afflicts up to 10 million people worldwide. There is no cure for autoimmune diabetes. Insulin injection is the only supportive medication, which always accompanies fatality. Apart from replacement therapy using insulin and/or β-cells, immune interventions hold the key to stopping this illness. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells have emerged as a new regulator in harnessing immune response. In this review, we first up-dated the advances on etiology, development and immune interventions of autoimmune diabetes. Next, we highlighted the origin, development, tolerogenic mechanisms of myeloid-derived suppressor cells with an emphasis of the signaling pathways in their development and action. Finally, we summarized and discussed the recent progress in exploring the potential and mechanism of myeloid-derived suppressor cells in autoimmune diabetes. A novel vista on MDSC-based immune intervention with AID development was also discussed.