A vaccine may be on the way (eventually) that reverses type 1 diabetes, according to a report posted Friday on the Diabetes Health site. The vaccine, which uses tiny fragments of protein to bind to the T-cells that destroy insulin producing beta cells, seems to be working pretty well in mice; and the “nanoparticles that contained human diabetes-related molecules were able to restore normal blood sugar levels in a humanized mouse model of diabetes.” (Tee hee, “humanized moue model.”)
Because the protein nanoparticles are specific to the T-cells that are overly aggressive in destroying beta cells, the vaccine doesn’t appear to harm the other T-cells that keep our immune system healthy. And, it’s possible that this therapy can be tailored to other immune-related diseases beyond diabetes.
JDRF, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, supported this research. This is why I support them and why I hope you will donate to JDRF, too.
Combine this with some other recently reported research that alpha cells in the pancreas spontaneously become beta cells when the latter are deficient, and you have what we’ve always wanted: a cure for diabetes. I’m being cautious, since nothing has been tested in humans — even at a very basic level — and the process of converting from alpha to beta capabilities is described as “slow.” Still, this is what gives me hope that some day type 1 diabetes will be a thing of the past. . . . Some day soon, I hope.