A Piganelli Lab Interactive

Autoimmune Arcade

Beta Cell Breakdown

Guide an autoreactive CD4+ T cell through a pancreatic beta cell, collect beta cell antigens, evade immune regulatory cells, and use inflammatory cytokine boosts to drive the response toward beta cell destruction.

Educational arcade analogy This game is a simplified visualization of immune concepts and is not a quantitative model of type 1 diabetes pathogenesis.
Score 000000
High score 000000
T cell state Naive
Beta cell function 100%
Lives
Current antigen IAPP-HIP
AUTOIMMUNE ARCADE

Beta Cell Breakdown

Clear the beta cell antigen field while avoiding immune regulatory cells. Cytokine bonus items temporarily amplify your T cell response.

IAPP-HIP ChgA-HIP InsB:9-23

Move: Arrow keys / WASD  •  Pause: P  •  Sound: M

GLOBAL RECORDS

Arcade Records

Players Ever —

Counted once per browser/device when the game is first started.

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The immunology behind the arcade

What the game represents

Inflammatory boosts

Cytokine bonus items temporarily increase T cell performance and make regulatory enemies vulnerable. Their point values follow the classic escalating arcade bonus progression.

IL-2 100 IL-12 300 IFNγ 500 IL-21 700 IL-18 1,000 TNFα 2,000 IL-1β 3,000 Type I IFN 5,000

Autoreactive CD4+ T cell

You control the T cell. Antigen encounters and cytokine boosts raise its activation state from Naive to Activated, Expanded, and Effector.

Beta cell antigens

Antigen dots are color coded exactly as they appear on the board: IAPP-HIP is yellow, ChgA-HIP is pink, and InsB:9-23 is blue. Clearing all antigen dots reduces simulated beta cell function to 0%.

Immune regulation

Regulatory T cells and suppressive or tolerogenic antigen presenting cells act as the maze antagonists. Contact lowers activation and costs a T cell life.

Win condition: clear all beta cell antigen dots, reduce simulated beta cell function to 0%, and trigger the final DIABETES ONSET sequence.