Fall 2013 Overview 
TREATMENT:
Breakthrough T1D announced a partnership with Pfizer’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) to support the development and translation of promising diabetes research. The collaboration will initially focus on co-funding projects in the fields of immune tolerance, diabetic nephropathy, and beta cell health.
CURING:
A Breakthrough T1D-funded study from Indiana found that using the drug alfacept, immune cells can be re-educated to eliminate the cells that attack the pancreas in T1D. This is one of many studies looking for an agent to reverse T1D in early diagnosed individuals.
Researchers in Belgian were able to develop insulin producing cells – similar to beta cells – in mice when adding a pair of proteins to cells in diabetic mice. The study will continue to observe if these cells are resistant to immune responses similar to those that attack beta cells in T1D.
Individuals with sensor augmented insulin pumps had shorter hypoglycemic events in a Breakthrough T1D-supported clinical trial. In addition, the newly FDA approved Medtronic insulin pump detects dropping sugar levels and shuts off regular insulin delivery if the individual is non-responsive to alarms.
PREVENTION:
Breakthrough T1D has given Salk scientist Mark Huising a five-year, $750,000 Career Development Award for his proposed study on how receptors in human islets receive cellular signals. In computer models, activation of these receptors has proven to actually prevent diabetes.
For the first time, researchers have identified the types of enterovirus associated with T1D. Two collaborating teams, supported in part by Breakthrough T1D, have published the findings of their separate studies in the journal Diabetes. The results from these studies show that a virus has an association with the risk of type 1 diabetes while 35 other enterovirus types tested did not show such a connection. This work points to the possibility for a vaccine to prevent T1D.
This blog was provided by Dana Roseman, the Breakthrough T1D Greater Dallas Chapter’s Research Information Volunteer.
