New vaccine safely stops beta cell attack
JDRF researchers from Canada show that a new vaccine can cure type 1 diabetes in mice and slow the onset of the condition in mice at risk of the disease.
Type 1 diabetes is caused when a persons own immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Whilst the precise trigger of this attack is still unproven, researchers do know that there are certain immune cells that play a more important role than others. The challenge is to target the “bad” cells without harming the good cells that protect us from day-to-day infections.
Publishing their results this week in the international journal Immunity, JDRF-funded researchers from the University of Calgary have done just that. They have developed a vaccine that when tested in a mouse model of diabetes reduced the aggressive immune attack on beta cells by boosting the number of protector cells.
The first step of this program was to develop a way to safely increase protector cell numbers, and they did this using an exciting new scientific discipline known as nanotechnology. Nanotechnology involves the intricate manipulation of tiny particles that measure between 1-100 nanometres in size – equivalent to one billionth of a metre or 1/100,000 the width of a normal sheet of paper.
In this case, the researchers created a “nanovaccine” involving tiny spheres especially coated with a protein specific to type 1 diabetes. When introduced into the immune system of diabetic mice, these spheres triggered the production of good protector cells and reduced the number of bad aggressive cells.
The end result was that the nanovaccine prevented diabetes in a pre-diabetic mouse model and restored normal blood glucose levels in diabetic mice.
Whilst the lead researcher Dr Pere Santamaria says the results are not immediately transferable to humans, research is already underway into understanding what needs to be done to translate this knowledge into clinical trials.
The development of a safe and effective vaccine for type 1 diabetes is a top priority for JDRF internationally, and there are many other similar programs making progress in this area around the world.
If only…. This is fantastic research and we wait in anticipation for the next steps.
I have prayed for a cure for type 1 diabetes everyday since my 23 year old daughter was diagnosed at the age of 11. This is very exciting news, lets hope a cure will be in her and other young peoples lifetimes.
This is good news. Especially alongside the promising research regarding the regeneration of beta cells. Well done JDF.
When can we start human trials?
this is fantastic! My 7 year old has had type 1 diabetes since he was 3 and often tells me that he doesn't want diabetes anymore and asks me to make it go away. I've told him that the doctors are trying lots of new things and one day he may not have diabetes anymore. His reaction to this research when I told him? "wow!!"
Vaccine!
Better than the immune suppressing drug approach but probably harder. Well done!
This sounds very promising. I cannot wait.
I hope we do find a cure soon.
This and many other similar research programs will not work. It is not enough to stop or slow the autoimmune attack. There is mounting evidence that inflammation plays a major role in type 1. Wether this is caused by a virus or some other means is unknown. Many programs are trying to stop or slow the immune attack but have had limited success because the inflammation continues.
Great news I hope a cure is sooner than we all think.
A cure would be wonderful & save a lot of money & suffering, I have had type 1 for 59yrs & while we are waiting for a cure CONTROL is the most important issue. Diabetes has not prevented me from doing anything. Having a family, travelling the world working as a Diabetes educator. But it can be tedious at times try as hard as you can toachieve YOUR BEST CONTROL so we will still be fit when the cure is here.
This is a very worth vaccine. Nice news.
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