Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease that leads to the destruction of pancreas ß-cells and insulin deficiency. The main determinant of T1D is the genetic predisposition, although most children born carrying T1D genetic risk markers do not go on to develop the disease in their early childhood years. Nonetheless, the appearance of ß-cells autoantibodies does increase the risk of developing the disease by up to 75%, in the next 10 years of life.

It is also becoming more evident that T1D is a complex disease with numerous intermediate phenotypes, comorbidities and heterogeneity in responses to therapy. This complexity is increasingly thought to be due to interactions between diet and lifestyle factors that can impact the gut microbiota and the host immune system via epigenetic mechanisms. T1D development has been demonstrated to be affected by the maternal diet during pregnancy, breastfeeding, and early introduction of certain foods in infancy. The gut microbiota can be strongly influenced by these factors, and its modification subsequently impacts the immune system. Microbiota dysbiosis has been shown to be involved in the autoimmune process and the further progression of T1D. The gut-brain axis should also be considered when examining the relationship between diet, the gut microbiota and epigenetic profiles.

This Research Topic therefore aims to collect new research further exploring the role of gut microbiota as an epigenetics effector in T1D and how diet and lifestyle can modulate this interaction. Research into the triple interaction between diet, gut microbiota and epigenetics can open new opportunities in the diagnosis and effective management of T1D.

In this Research Topic we welcome original research articles as well as reviews that focus on themes such as:

• The role of diet and lifestyle in T1D and its impact on the gut microbiota and its metabolites.

• Microbiota and epigenetics profiling to classify different T1D phenotypes and comorbidities (e.g. insulin-response, obesity, nephropathies, neuropathies, cardiovascular diseases, celiac disease, depression).

• Clarifying the molecular mechanisms underlying the role of gut microbiota in modulation of the host responses in T1D.

• Multi-omics approach to classifying different subtypes of T1D (genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, metagenomics).

• Personalized nutrition and new perspectives in the dietary management of T1D.

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Frontiers in Nutrition

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