Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri have come across a chance discovery which has enabled them to cure type 1 diabetes within mice.

The discovery followed 12 years of type 1 diabetes research by Professor Habib Zaghouani. Previous research had involved studying the effects of a type of antibody (immunoglobin) known as Ig-GAD2. Prof Zaghouani’s research showed that the antibody was able to prevent the immune system from attacking the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas. However, the research faced a difficulty in that the speed at which type 1 diabetes develops meant that the disease had destroyed too many beta cells to allow the body to recover adequate insulin producing ability.

To help the body produce more insulin, the research team opted to use adult stem cells from bone marrow, with the intention of having these stem cells grow into beta cells. However, rather than growing into beta cells, the stem cells grew into brand new blood vessels which, to the delight of researchers, facilitated new beta cells to then be produced.

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