ESPE Abstracts

The conspicuous increase in the incidence of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the Western world after World War II cannot be explained solely by genetic factors but suggests that this rise must be due to crucial interactions between predisposing genes and environmental changes. Three parallel phenomena in early childhood – the dynamic development of the immune system, the maturation of the gut microbiome and the appearance of the first T1D-associated autoantibodies – imply...