Posted on 06/28/2011 10:13:18 AM PDT by decimon
A chemical produced by the same cells that make insulin in the pancreas prevented and even reversed Type 1 diabetes in mice, researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital have found.
Type 1 diabetes, formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is characterized by the immune system’s destruction of the beta cells in the pancreas that make and secrete insulin. As a result, the body makes little or no insulin.
The only conventional treatment for Type 1 diabetes is insulin injection, but insulin is not a cure as it does not prevent or reverse the loss of beta cells.
A team led by Dr. Qinghua Wang, in the division of endocrinology and metabolism, and Dr. Gerald Prud’homme, in the division of pathology, has studied the role of GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid, an amino acid produced by beta cells in the pancreas. The research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Canadian Diabetes Association.
The researchers found that GABA injections not only prevented diabetes in mice, but even reversed the disease. Their findings were published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The significance of GABA is that it corrects both known causes of Type 1 diabetes in mice: It works in the pancreas to regenerate insulin-producing beta cells and it acts on the immune system to stop the destruction of those cells. Those two actions are necessary to reverse the disease and prevent its recurrence. Until now, there has been no effective treatment that achieves both goals at the same time.
(Excerpt) Read more at stmichaelshospital.com ...
Ping
Sounds nuts —even vaguely Michael MooreEan— but in fact I agree with you. The capital foundation undergirding current and future treatments is huge.
Big bioPharma is a de-facto extension of the government, and they would regard this as a threat.
Damn! Why are we always trying to cure mice? /sarc
Two therapies announced in two weeks.
I’d say SELL Medtronic stock. They make insulin pumps, and very good ones. They make a ton of cash off the pumps and the materials.
The therapy announced last week was through HUMAN trials, not the mice trials. It involved using a tuberculosis antigen in the pancreas. Effective, but you had to have a new shot of it once a month.
The good news was that the antigen was inexpensive.
This is better, depending on how much isolating and producing GABA will be.
My youngest has had Type 1 since he was 19 months. He’s eight now.
Best wishes for him. And it does look like there will be effective therapies for him.
sfl
thanks for this post, and for all your others. hoping this
turns into effective therapy soonest.
“Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?”
“Duh, I dunno, Bwain, but I need to check my blood sugar.”
You're welcome. If nothing else, they must be learning something from the research.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.