- Faculty
- BR1DGE
Lucienne Chatenoud
Professor of Immunology, Institut Necker Enfants Malades-INEM, Paris, France
Education about T1D is especially important today so that patients and healthcare professionals can make the most of the increased availability of diagnostic and therapeutic tools
My career developed at the interface of basic research into T lymphocytes inducing autoimmune diseases, and the biotechnology of monoclonal antibodies and their clinical translation. Autoimmune Type 1 diabetes is induced by T cells that destroy insulin-producing beta-cells. All started with the availability of the first monoclonal antibody against T cell receptors, OKT3, an anti-human CD3-specific antibody, as a novel therapeutic tool in organ transplantation. A second step forward came when our group, conducting novel research into experimental models of disease, first demonstrated that a short treatment with a CD3-specific antibody could induce permanent disease remission in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice that develop spontaneously autoimmune diabetes. These results set the scene for the further rewarding experience namely, going back to the clinic with more sophisticated tools than 20 years earlier i.e. engineered, humanized CD3 monoclonal antibodies such as Teplizumab (Tzield). Trials conducted in Europe and the United States showed that the same protocol used in the mouse when translated to patients presenting autoimmune insulin-dependent diabetes significantly impacted disease progression.
