Today, in an original article at "http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0063296" PLOS ONE Journal, the Immunology of Diabetes Research Group at Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute, with the collaboration of the Immunology Group and the Statistics and Bioinformatics Unit at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR), and the Institut de Recerca Biomèdica de Lleida, report a new experimental immunotherapy that prevents the onset of Type 1 Diabetes in mice predisposed to the disease. The therapy, which works as a vaccine, consists of the in vitro generation, modification and then administration of dendritic cells (a type of immune system cell) to pre-diabetic mice in order to reverse the autoimmune destruction. Even though it’s too early to reach a conclusion, the authors consider that this strategy can be used to prevent diabetes and other autoimmune diseases in human.In the study, the dendritic cells, which were obtained from mice predisposed to diabetes, were modified in vitro by the uptake of programmed death (apoptotic) beta cells, and then re-administered to pre-diabetic mice. These cells gave signals to the immune system that slow down the destruction of the insulin producing cells.Type 1 Diabetes is a metabolic disease caused by the destruction of insulin producing beta cells of the pancreas by the immune system. Insulin is the hormone that is responsible for the processing of the ingested glucose. At the moment, there isn’t any cure for this disease, and the absence of insulin production has fatal consequences. For this reason, people who suffer from Type 1 Diabetes (0,3% of the population) have to get exogenous insulin injections as a treatment. A scarce option is either full pancreas transplantation or the transplantation of the part that contains the beta cells. There are some genetic and environmental factors that are involved in the occurrence of the disease, which arises during childhood or youth.