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University of VA Finds Possible Diabetes Cure

Posted: Thursday, September 07, 2006

After two years of work Dr. Jerry Nadler has successfully reversed the course of type 1 Diabetes.

Nadler, who is chief of the University of Virginia Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, has combined two drugs, which have already been tested on humans separately. One, lisofylline, is an experimental drug that stops the body from killing its own insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. The other drug, exendin-4, promotes the growth of new pancreatic cells.

“We had the idea that if you put the two together, something that stops the destruction of the cells and something that causes the growth of the cells, they would work better together than they would alone,” Nadler said.

It is the body’s destruction of insulin producing cells in type 1 diabetes that makes a person’s body unable to regulate blood sugar, potentially resulting in complications such as blindness, nerve damage, kidney failure or heart disease.

Nadler’s combination of drugs not only stopped pancreatic cells from being destroyed, but even allowed for new growth.Type 1 diabetes accounts for about 5 to 10 percent of all diabetes diagnoses but its targeted victims make the disease particularly tragic.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease with no single known cause or trigger.

The body recognizes the cells in the pancreas as being foreign, basically kills them and renders them unable to produce insulin.

What makes Nadler’s treatment potentially so effective is that the two drugs he combined have very specific targets. While other general immunosuppressants can stop the immune system from destroying healthy tissue, they also leave the body vulnerable to other infections. Lisofylline, so far, has been shown to target only that specific pathway that leads to the destruction of cells in the pancreas.

Exendin-4 is equally specific. While it induces cell growth in the pancreas, Nadler said it has not been shown to cause uncontrolled cell growth, which could lead to tumors. “That’s always a concern with anything,” Nadler said. “But exendin-4 only causes very slow growth of the insulin producing cells.”

Another benefit of both drugs already being tested separately on people is that the process of switching over from using the drugs on animals to humans can be streamlined. While it normally takes a project five to 10 years to move from animal tests to human clinical trials, Nadler estimates that his drug combination could go to trial in as little as a year or two.

There was another positive in Nadler’s tests. After the treatment of the mice was stopped, the critters continued to produce insulin through the end of the experiment, up to 145 days after the medications were ceased. “That’s quite a long time in an animal to have diabetes reversed,” Nadler said. “It’s exciting because the patients may not have to be on the medications very long.”

The next part of the project will be determining the duration of treatment and how much of each drug needs to be administered. “The minimum amount of medication you need, the better,” Nadler said.

He and his researchers will also be trying to determine how the treatment stops the body from destroying cells even after the medications are no longer used.

Source: Diabetes In Control: University of Virginia