Why is type 1 diabetes considered an autoimmune disease?

Why is type 1 diabetes considered an autoimmune disease?

Anne Peters, MD, FACP, CDE (Professor and Director of Clinical Diabetes Programs, USC Keck School of Medicine) gives expert video advice on: Is it possible to prevent type 1 diabetes?; Is it possible to prevent type 2 diabetes?; What environmental factors contribute to diabetes? and more...

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease because it's a disease in which the body makes infection-fighting cells, what we call antibodies, that, by mistake, attack the islet cells, the insulin-producing cells on the pancreas. It is because of that that the body cannot make insulin any further and people get type 1 diabetes.