Possible New Treatment for Type
1 Diabetes
Researchers successful in reversing type 1
diabetes by "teaching" the newly emerging
immune cells not to attack the insulin-secreting
islet cells.
The standard treatment for type 1 diabetes—an
autoimmune disease in which healthy, insulin-secreting
cells of the pancreas are destroyed— manages
the complications of the disease. Diabetics monitor
their blood sugar levels and inject themselves
when necessary with insulin, the hormone responsible
for breaking glucose down into fuel. But now researchers
at Massachusetts General Hospital have actually
retrained the malfunctioning immune cells of diabetic
mice to behave properly. Their results appear
in the July 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical
Investigation.
The scientists studied immune cells of both diabetic
mice and people for five years looking for clues
that helped determine the two-step approach described
in the study. After noticing that exposure to
the naturally occurring compound TNF-alpha (Tumor
Necrosis Factor-alpha) killed malfunctioning immune
cells, the researchers stimulated expression of
TNF-alpha in the mice. This approach is contrary
to past interventions for type 1 diabetes—often,
doctors prescribe drugs to block TNF-alpha receptor
sites.
The second step of the therapy addressed the immune
cells’ inability to present self-peptides,
molecules that are required to halt the development
of autoimmune diseases. The scientists injected
the diabetic mice in their study with donor cells
able to express the self-peptides in order to
"teach" the newly emerging immune cells
not to attack the insulin-secreting islet cells.
Nearly 75 percent of the treated mice still had
normal glucose levels more than 100 days after
the treatment was stopped.
Denise Faustman of the Immunobiology Laboratory
at Massachusetts General Hospital and the lead
author of the study, stated that . "With
only a brief treatment, we have reversed an established
autoimmune disease in a respected animal model."
"Although the results are preliminary, this
is an exciting finding for diabetes."
====================================================
FACT: The tiny island of Nauru
in the Pacific is the world's smallest republic.
It also holds the less celebrated honor of being
home to the world's most obese people. In 1922,
The island was discovered to be full of high-quality
phosphate rock and a mining company made its residents
extremely wealthy when it lavished them with royalties.
Their new-found wealth had a profound effect on
the people - and their health. They turned to
eating a high-sugar diet, bought cars and completely
changed their lifestyles. Their wealth bought
them luxury, but also had a profound effect on
the size of their bodies: in one generation, they
fell victim to an epidemic of obesity. The result
was soaring rates of Type II diabetes, with two-thirds
of those over the age of 35 affected by the disease.
==============================
We have upgraded our Tools for Your Practice
page. Check out how easy it is to get
all the tools you will ever need. Click
Here
