Two New Directions For Type 1 Diabetes Research PDF Print E-mail
Monday, 25 August 2008 23:06
Two reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences may be of interest to the estimated 23 million Type 1 diabetics worldwide.

In the first, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, headed by Dr. Denise Faustman, tested bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), a drug used to prevent tuberculosis.

Faustman said BCG temporarily elevates levels of an immune system protein called tumor necrosis factor or TNF. Earlier studies had shown that raising TNF in mice can cure them of a condition resembling human diabetes.

"If you are a mouse, we have got you covered. But the ultimate goal is people," Faustman said.

T-cell destruction of pancreatic beta cells has been established and this is accomplished via CD8 "killer" T-cells that could be destroyed by TNF or BCG without loss of "good T-cells".

Phase 1 testing of BCG at low doses is underway.

The second report covers the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center"s look at a hormone called leptin. Discovered in 1994, leptin is a product of fat cells and Type 1 diabetes often have very low levels. Increasing leptin levels in insulin-deficient mice has been shown to reverse the diabetic state.

"This was totally unexpected."

It is proposed that leptin may modulate insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) and/or glucagon levels, but much additional research is needed.


Read the full Reuters article here.

There is more on the leptin findings here.

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