The interferon regulatory factors, a double-edged sword, in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease resulted from the unrestrained inflammatory attack towards the insulin-producing islet beta cells. Although the exact etiology underlying T1D remains elusive, viral infections, especially those specific strains of enterovirus, are acknowledged as a critical environmental cue involved in the early phase of disease initiation. Viral infections could either directly impede beta cell function, or elicit patho-logical autoinflammatory reactions for beta cell killing. Autoimmune responses are bolstered by a massive body of virus-derived exogenous pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and the presence of beta cell-derived damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). In particular, the nucleic acid components and the down-stream nucleic acid sensing pathways serve as the major effector mechanism. The endogenous retroviral RNA, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and genomic fragments generated by stressed or dying beta cells induce host responses reminiscent of viral infection, a phenomenon termed as viral mimicry during the early stage of T1D development. Given that the interferon regulatory factors (IRFs) are considered as hub transcription factors to modulate im-mune responses relevant to viral infection, we thus sought to summarize the critical role of IRFs in T1D path-ogenesis. We discuss with focus for the impact of IRFs on the sensitivity of beta cells to cytokine stimulation, the vulnerability of beta cells to viral infection/mimicry, and the intensity of immune response. Together, targeting certain IRF members, alone or together with other therapeutics, could be a promising strategy against T1D.