A new treatment that uses the body's own immune system to fight type 1 diabetes showed promisng results in clinical trial and could potentially end the need for daily insulin shots, according to researchers from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF).
In type 1 diabetes, the immune system abnormally attacks beta cells – the cells that secrete insulin – thus disrupting the body's insulin levels. Therapies aimed at treating type 1 diabetes normally work to suppress the immune response in order to stop the attack against beta cells. However, these treatments also make the body more susceptible to infection and diseases like cancer.
The researchers developed an immunotherapy treatment for people with type 1 diabetes by harnessing regulatory T cells, called Tregs, from the patients' own bodies. The cells were then grown outside the body to as much as 1,500 times more than the extracted amount and were reintroduced to the patients' systems.
Tregs were able to minimize the immune system's attack on beta cells without suppressing the body's ability to fight infection.
"This could be a game-changer," lead study author Jeffrey A. Bluestone, professor of Metabolism and Endocrinology at UCSF, said in a press release. "For type 1 diabetes, we've traditionally given immunosuppressive drugs, but this trial gives us a new way forward. By using Tregs to 're-educate' the immune system, we may be able to really change the course of this disease."
The clinical trial was the first of its kind in the U.S. involving large amounts of Tregs being infused back into the patients and being well tolerated by their systems.
Mary Rooney, one of the participants in the study, expressed relief that the immunotherapy could end the need for daily insulin injections.
"The Treg intervention aims to prevent the development and progression of type 1 diabetes, freeing people like me from the daily grind of insulin therapy and lifelong fear of complications. It's truly groundbreaking research with enormous potential," Rooney said.
Bluestone said that the new treatment method "is an exciting new pillar for drug development" and could be developed to treat other diseases like lupus, cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis and obesity.
"We expect Tregs to be an important part of diabetes therapy in the future," he added.
The study was published online Nov. 25 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
