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Engineered nanocapsule drug delivery vehicle to selectively target and protect islet beta cells in type 1 diabetes
Collins, Jillian Elise
Collins, Jillian Elise
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2024
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Abstract
Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is a global health crisis affecting millions of people. It is a chronic autoimmune disease where immune cells infiltrate and destroy insulin-producing β-cells in pancreatic islets. As a results patients require lifelong insulin dependence of exogenous insulin which does not stop disease progression nor prevent disease complications. Significant hurdles in combatting this disease are the signaling mechanisms that drive the disease progression, are not fully understood and lack of targeting of therapeutics to residual or replacement pancreatic b-cells. My dissertation work focuses on improving both areas. The first section characterizes the role of protein kinase C delta (PKCδ) in mediating cytokine-induced β-cell apoptosis as well as mediating other downstream survival signaling pathways. The second shows the creation of a novel nanoparticle drug delivery system which can selectively target and deliver therapeutics to both residual and replacement β-cells. The significance of this work provides key information about what occurs intracellularly in β-cells undergoing an immune cell attack as well as the development of a potential vehicle which can overcome major biological barriers such as passing through the cell membrane to deliver therapeutics to protect, proliferate, and regenerate both residual and replacement β-cells.
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