Researchers from Exeter University's medical school have made a discovery which could improve understanding of diabetes, and even help the progress towards a cure.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body's immune system destroys the cells making insulin, and it had been thought all were killed within a few years of the condition developing.
But the study found that most people with type 1 diabetes still have some active insulin-making cells - as this was the case with three quarters of the volunteers they tested.
This could help scientists to understand better why some of the cells survive, and possibly to make progress in preventing them from dying.
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