{
  "abstract": "An increased incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) has been widely documented, but its pathophysiological origins are poorly understood. The post-World War II expansion of the plastics industry in the United States and elsewhere coincides with a marked increase in T1DM incidence; however, no pathophysiological mechanism has been proposed that could justify such a temporal correlation. Here, we leverage recent advances in artificial intelligence and protein structure prediction and binding to show that molecular mimicry is a plausible pathophysiological mechanism for plastic fragments to induce onset of T1DM for individuals with certain HLA haplotypes.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of Utah"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "J. Facelli"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. jones"
    },
    {
      "name": "S. Mistry"
    },
    {
      "name": "R. Gouripeddi"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bwe0jjjqx3y24.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.11.02.763715",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.02.763715v1.full",
  "id": "bwe0jjjqx3y24",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.02.763715v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "immunology"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.02.763715v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-11-02",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bwe0jjjqx3y24.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-05T00:21:52Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.11.02.763715",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.02.763715v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:immunology",
      "subfield": "immunology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Can the Human Plastisphere Account for the Rise of Type 1 Diabetes: A Computational Molecular Mimicry Study",
  "title_text": "Can the Human Plastisphere Account for the Rise of Type 1 Diabetes: A Computational Molecular Mimicry Study",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-06T00:21:39Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bwe0jjjqx3y24",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}