Immune intervention in type I diabetes mellitus--current clinical and experimental approaches.

Experiments with animal models have proven that intervention protocols avoiding immunosuppressants can effectively prevent immune-mediated diabetes. These new approaches aim at either supporting the defence of islet cells against inflammatory attack or at modulating the type of the immune response to beta cells towards a more benign quality. Another approach is to reduce the exposure to putative diabetogenic dietary factors during infancy. All of the three strategies are presently tried in clinical studies.