Diabetes: Has a fast cure been found?
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A new drug could stop diabetes in its tracks in just six days.
The drug, called otelixizumab, appears to halt the rapid decline in the body’s production of insulin.
It works by switching off the immune system’s self-destruct mechanism that causes type 1 diabetes.
This halts damage to the pancreas, allowing it to carry on producing its own insulin.
Currently undergoing clinical trials, the drug seems to work best when given as soon as possible after someone has been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. It is given as a daily jab for six days in a row.
Diabetes affects two million people in Britain. The condition develops when the pancreas either stops producing insulin altogether, or its output drops sharply.
Insulin helps mop up excess sugar in the bloodstream. Without the right levels of insulin, the disease can cause irreversible damage to the kidneys, eyes, nerves, heart and major arteries.
Type 1 diabetes tends to affect young people. It occurs when the immune system starts to attack healthy tissues, such as the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
Patients often end up needing daily insulin jabs for the rest of their lives.
It’s not known what causes this to happen, although the process can be triggered by even a minor viral infection.
Type 2 diabetes, which normally comes on later in life, is linked with sedentary lifestyles and can sometimes be controlled through diet and medicines, rather than insulin injections.
In recent years, leading drug companies have invested millions in search of medicines that might switch off the immune system once it does start to turn on itself.
Such a drug might transform not only the treatment of type 1 diabetes, but other conditions caused by a faulty immune system, such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis.
The new drug works by altering the balance between certain types of cell in the immune system.
When the body is being attacked by invading bacteria or viruses, the immune system releases T effector cells to attack them and protect against infection.
It also dispatches another type of cell, called T regulatory cells, to keep the T effector cells in check and stop them doing more harm than good.
One theory behind type 1 diabetes is that this balance tilts too heavily in favor of the T effector cells, so they not only attack invading organisms but healthy tissues and organs as well.
The new drug contains a very specific antibody - a protein that is designed to home in on certain cells in the body.
In this case, the antibody targets a marker found only on the T effector cells. Once the drug locks onto the cells, it stops them destroying insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
The results of a recent study, published in the medical journal Diabetologia, show that otelixizumab can either halt or dramatically reduce the need for insulin injections among newly diagnosed diabetics.
Patients given the six-day treatment were able to continue making their own insulin, or needed to inject only small amounts. In contrast, a group given a dummy treatment needed rapidly increasing amounts of injected insulin.
It’s too early to say if the new drug can ‘cure’ diabetes. Research suggests the effects might wane after a couple of years, when further treatment would be required.
But if it does prove successful in larger trials, it could be available in Britain within the next five years.
Dr Iain Frame, director of research at Diabetes UK, said: ‘We welcome this study as a positive step forward.
‘This is one of a number of similar approaches being undertaken to delay the onset of the condition, and we have been watching such developments with great interest.
‘But the treatment appears to be dependent on the amount of residual insulin-producing cells left in the patient and their age at the time of the treatment.
‘It’s worth remembering that this approach will not be suitable for those who have had type 1 diabetes for some time.’
Adding cheese, baked beans or tuna to a baked potato can lower the risk of diabetes.
Researchers found the ‘toppings’ lowered the potato’s glycemic index or GI by up to 54 per cent.
GI is important because it measures how fast particular foods trigger a rise in blood sugar levels.
Foods classed as low gI raise levels gradually, protecting against the development of type 2 diabetes.
In the study at Oxford Brookes University, 40 healthy men and women were given high GI foods such as potato, pasta and white bread, with the variety of different toppings.
Blood samples were taken before eating, and at regular intervals up to two hours after finishing the meal.
Results show that adding toppings lowered the GI of all the carbohydrates. Baked beans altered the GI of potatoes by 33 per cent, while adding tuna to pasta lowered it by 54 per cent.
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By Pat Hagan Mail On Line
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html
Felix Larocca
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