Scientists at Germans Trias Institute prevent type-1 diabetes in mice with vaccine
The new therapy consists of extracting, modifying and reintroducing cells from the immune system to prevent the destruction of beta cells.
Núria Saladié
The Diabetes Immunology Group at the Health Sciences Research Institute of the Germans Trias i Pujol Foundation has presented a new therapy that acts as a vaccine and suppresses type-1 diabetes in pre-diabetic mice.
The study, funded by the Institute of Health Carlos III with collaboration from the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) and the Biomedical Research Institute of Lleida (IRB Lleida), is particularly significant because "we have discovered the molecular mechanisms that make the vaccine work," explains Dr. Marta Vives, head researcher on the study. The treatment consists of extracting dendrite cells and modifying them in-vitro so that, once they are re-introduced into pre-diabetic mice, they signal the immune system to tolerate insulin producers in the pancreas so, as they are not destroyed, the disease doesn’t progress. This new therapy is described in full in an article published in the free-access scientific journal Plos One.
Type-1 diabetes, also known as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, has significant effects because it is the insulin hormone that processes the glucose we ingest. Thus, a person with type-1 diabetes suffers the consequences of excess sugar in the blood, which according to the World Health Organization (WHO) can damage the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves.
Each year between 250 and 270 new cases are diagnosed in patients under 30 in Catalonia, where the disease is calculated to affect 0.3% of the population, according to the Government of Catalonia’s Canal Salut. So far, neither the cause nor a cure have been found for this disease, which tends to appear in childhood or adolescence and requires patients to take regular insulin injections.
Although more experiments must be done, researchers at Germans Trias i Pujol believe that this therapy could be key in the future for preventing diabetes and other human autoimmune diseases. Dr. Marta Vives explains that the aim is now to "transfer immunotherapy to clinical practice designed for the disease in humans."
Article:
- Vives-Pi M., Verdaguer J., Ampudia R., Pujol-Autonell I. (2013). "Efferocytosis promotes suppressive effects on dendritic cells through prostaglandin E2 production in the context of autoimmunity". Plos One.