Nitric oxide and pancreatic beta-cell destruction in insulin dependent diabetes mellitus: don't take NO for an answer.

A major surge of interest has recently focused upon nitric oxide (NO) as a mediator of autoimmune destruction of beta-cells in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). It has been proposed that insulin producing cells in response to cytokines are induced to produce self destructing amounts of NO, and that endothelial cells or islet infiltrating macrophages may induce beta-cell death by releasing cytotoxic levels of NO within the islet. Recent findings in this field are presently discussed and we conclude that although NO might have a role in rodent IDDM, any putative role of NO in the pathogenesis of human IDDM remains to be clarified.