Leuven Diabetes Lab Shines at IDS Congress 2024

November 12, 2024
From November 4th to 8th, the 20th edition of the Immunology of Diabetes Society (IDS) Congress took place in Bruges, led by Prof. Dr. Chantal Mathieu and Dr. Lut Overbergh. Founded over 25 years ago, IDS aims to uncover the mechanisms by which the immune system and the pancreas contribute to the development of type 1 diabetes. The Leuven Diabetes Lab was part of the organizing team on-site. Some team members were even invited to present their projects.
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Towards Personalized Therapy

In a 15-min lecture, Dr. Pierre Lemaitre presented results on the mechanisms of teplizumab therapy resistance in the NOD mouse model and blood samples from individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Mice were treated for 5 days with an anti-CD3 therapy from the onset of T1D symptoms and were then divided into two groups based on a positive effect (47%, responders) or no effect of the treatment (53%, non-responders). The transcriptomic properties of the immune cells were compared between the groups. It was found that responders and non-responders showed significant gene differences in a specific subgroup of immune cells, namely neutrophils, both in the blood and pancreas. These results were confirmed in blood samples from newly diagnosed individuals with T1D, treated with teplizumab, and followed up for 12 months. Nine genes were identified that could distinguish non-responders even before therapy starts. These findings promote personalized therapy choices in the future.

In addition, team members Amber Wouters, Pieter-Jan Martens, and Laure Degroote presented their posters. PhD student Amber Wouters demonstrated that redosing with anti-CD3 does not enhance therapy responsiveness in the NOD mouse model. Dr. Pieter-Jan Martens presented his results on verapamil in combination with low-dose murine anti-thymocyte globulin (mATG) therapy in newly diagnosed diabetic NOD mice. PhD student Laure Degroote presented dose-dependent effects of mATG on T1D development in the NOD mouse model.

Recap of IDS 2024 in photo gallery.

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