First step in trying to cure type 1 diabetes

[kd]

Cure for diabetes may be on its way sooner than expected, as
scientists have rolled up their sleeves to develop a revolutionary
treatment involving a vaccine, universally given to prevent
tuberculosis.

Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston are all set to
conduct human clinical trials using BCG vaccine, hoping to find a cure
for type 1 diabetes. And if all goes well, the treatment could be
approved for ordinary patients within four years.

A prior study on mouse models by Dr Denise Faustman showed promising
results.

'' Hundreds of mice suffering from type 1 diabetes started improving
within days after the first injection of BCG was given, and were
eventually free of diabetes,'' she said.

The study on humans is aimed at finding if the same strategy of using
BCG vaccination can be used to modify the abnormal autoimmune cells
present in type 1 diabetes, also called 'juvenile-onset' diabetes, the
Daily Mail reported. Mouse blood is very similar to human blood and a
clue as to whether the vaccine programme is working could be available
within months of the start of the trial, Dr faustman said. Dr
Faustman, during her 15 years of diabetes researcher, identified that
BCG vaccine while combating tuberculosis destroyed the bad white blood
cells that causes type one diabetes.

BCG is a generic drug that has been tried and tested for 80 years, Dr
Faustman said adding that it will be cheap to administer if this step
in the human study shows positive results.

- kd