Abstract
When Thetis dipped her son Achilles into the River Styx to make him
immortal, she held him by the Heel, which was not submerged, and thus
created a weak spot that proved deadly for Achilles. Millennia later,
Achilles Heel is part of today’s lexicon meaning an area of weakness or
a vulnerable spot that causes failure. Also implied is that an Achilles
Heel is often missed, forgotten or underappreciated, until it is under
attack, and then failure is fatal. Paris killed Achilles with an arrow
‘guided by the Gods’. At the International Congress of the Immunology of
Diabetes Society, 2018, five leading experts were asked to present the
case for a particular cell/element that could represent the Achilles
Heel of T1D. Their arguments are summarized here, to make this case.