Immunotherapy in type 1 diabetes mellitus. Quo vadis?

The discovery of type 1 diabetes mellitus' (T1DM) autoimmune etiopathogenesis, as well as the effectiveness of diverse immunotherapeutic strategies in T1DM animal models, opened a scenario of pharmacological immuno-intervention in this disease, more than 30 years ago. The aim of current trials that are evaluating these immune therapies at T1DM onset, is to safely modify the natural history of insulin secretion loss in addition to that obtained with intensive insulin treatment. After the great expectations arised at the beginning of the present century with the publication of promising pilot studies, the results of phase III clinical trials have recently been published, with unsatisfactory results. This has again led to a debate on immunological therapies at T1DM onset in the scientific community. (C) 2013 Sociedad Espanola de Diabetes. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L. All rights reserved.