The cover picture shows an illustration of a macrophage (top) engulfing a bacterium. Macrophages are central to innate immunity, and to the pathology of tissue injury and inflammation. The importance of increased inflammatory activity in obesity and type 2 diabetes has been recognised. In the present issue of Diabetologia (55: 273–278) Fernández-Real and Pickup review the development of this concept and the current evidence linking the pathophysiology of these disorders to several components of innate immunity. A framework is proposed in which the response to injury, with inflammation as the consequence, is used as a model to identify new therapeutic targets for type 2 diabetes.
Cover credit: DAVID GOODSELL/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
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