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A Type 1 Diabetes Cure in the Pipeline?
Microscopic View of Human Cells
What if we could stop the body's immune system from attacking the pancreas in the first stages of type 1 diabetes? What if we could keep the pancreas producing insulin, all the while helping it recover from the autoimmune barrage?
We'd have a cure for type 1, that's what.
A new treatment being developed by Andromeda Biotech is being tested in multiple locations across England. It's also being tested in North America and Israel, among other places. Researchers hope to have it available within three years.
The basic approach is as simple as the process described above -- blocking that first autoimmune attack. The drug would be most effective when used in the early stages of type 1 diabetes, before cells in the pancreas have been entirely destroyed. Eventually, scientists hope, patients could see a full recovery.
The treatment is based on a discovery by Professor Irun Cohen of Israel's Weizmann Institute. A protein he created, called a "long-chain heat-shock peptide," forms of the basis of the drug. Andromeda is focused on developing the product, which it calls DiaPep277.
"We have proved in earlier trials that our compound stops the immune system attacking the pancreas," said Shlomo Dagan, a researcher with Andromeda Biotech in Israel. "There is evidence to suggest that using the drug over a period of time, maybe a couple of years, will allow the pancreas to recover enough to make more insulin. In that situation the patient could stop injecting insulin."
For now, it seems, we're waiting to see how the treatment works in clinical trials. In a couple of years, the world for newly diagnosed type 1 diabetics could look a lot different.
Sources:
http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11415&catid=1&Itemid=17
http://www.andromedabio.com/
Categories: Autoimmune Condition, Diabetes, Diabetes, DiaPep277, Insulin, Long-chain heat-shock Peptide, Pancreas, Research, Type 1 Issues
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Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.
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Comments
That is the laziest excuse for reporting a "story" I have ever seen. Sorry if not using a cordial voice, but Mr. Firestone getting published just by using the Cure word is lazy. Please look at any Cure related discussion,all say years away, clinical trials, and have for years. Do not be a pawn of Clinical fund raising, you apparantly have a forum, do not waste it.
If this is a cure in the early stages then its not a cure for TYPE 1. I think we should find a cure for Type 1 in all stages first. This is a let down for the people who have had Type 1 diabetes for along time that have been waiting on a cure.
The only cure for Diabetes will be found in evolution, but then again, we are moving closer, in frequency, to autoimmune diseases than we are away from them.. Polution, plastics and corn syrup are to blame... 3 major influences over the last 100 years that have been introduced into our diets and lifestyles and no one wants to talk about it. Especially plastics and corn syrup...... I agree, the term "Cure" is always used with 'were so close', 'it's within reach', 'in a few years......'. It's so irresponsible...
It's interesting research, but I agree that we should be cautious in getting our hopes up too much. What is more, is that this seems to fall more under the preventive category than under a real "cure" for type 1 diabetes. Many news stories proclaim something to be a cure, but it falls short of expectations of what a real Practical Cure would be.
Having the pancreas recover enough to make insulin sounds like it would be a great step forward, but there is a difference between theorizing it might happen and it actually being in the pipeline.
Dr Faustman's research is helping to find "cures" for long-term type 1 patients. She has found that there is a ceratin T-cell that is inhibiting the pancreas from working. So, the drug she is using kills off only those particular t-cells, leaving the rest of the immune system in tact. She is completely public funded and works on donations only. I believe in that "cure" much more than the one stated in this article.
Yes, Dr. Faust an is starting phase 2 clinical tails & is much closer to reality. Also, her treatment using an existing drug will be much less expensive for patients than newly invented, patented drugs.
Dr. Faustman of Boston is having good luck with BCG. I had the honor of meeting her and I believe in her.
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