JDRF Research
JDRF-funded researchers made great strides in the search for a type 1 diabetes cure in 2004. Scientists found clues to the possible prevention or reversal of type 1 diabetes, made improvements in islet transplantation procedures, and discovered new drug targets for the prevention of diabetic complications. Here are the top ten JDRF research highlights of 2004:
1. Avoiding Need for Post-Transplant Drugs
A new drug protocol used after islet cell transplantation avoids the need for long-term immunosuppressant (i.e., antirejection) drugs in animals.
2. Success in Single-Donor Islet Transplants
Refinements in pancreatic islet harvesting for transplant provide more islets from fewer donors.
3. New Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Made Available
Seventeen new embryonic stem cell lines are created and distributed for research.
4. Pig Islets Restore Blood Sugar Control in Primates
Insulin-producing islet cells taken from pigs are successful in controlling diabetes in animals, and may be a future source for human transplants.
5. Insulin Secretion Lingers After Diabetes Onset
Researchers discover that type 1 patients still have considerable insulin secretion at diagnosis, leading to a reevaluation of intervention strategies.
6. Regenerating Islets in the Body
Existing pancreatic beta cells, not adult stem cells, replicate to replace old or damaged cells.
7. Researchers Identify Diabetes Susceptibility Gene
Gene identification may help identify children at risk for type 1 diabetes.
8. Boosting Certain Immune Cells to Block Diabetes
Animal study shows that cell therapy may stop the immune system attack that leads to type 1 diabetes.
9. T Cell Reaction May Explain Autoimmune Response
Immune cell finding changes the way researchers look at type 1 prevention strategies.
10. Enzyme Plays Big Role in Complications
Discovery of enzyme associated with blood vessel damage and drug-development efforts aimed at blocking the enzyme’s action may help prevent serious diabetic complications.
Top 10 Research Highlights of 2004
JDRF-funded researchers made great strides in the search for a type 1 diabetes cure in 2004. Scientists found clues to the possible prevention or reversal of type 1 diabetes, made improvements in islet transplantation procedures, and discovered new drug targets for the prevention of diabetic complications. Here are the top ten JDRF research highlights of 2004:
1. Avoiding Need for Post-Transplant Drugs
A new drug protocol used after islet cell transplantation avoids the need for long-term immunosuppressant (i.e., antirejection) drugs in animals.
Currently, people who undergo an islet cell transplant procedure (a transplant of insulin-producing pancreatic cell clusters from a donor pancreas) have to take a lifelong regimen of drugs to keep their body from rejecting the ‘foreign’ cells. In May 2004, Judith Thomas, Ph.D., director of the JDRF Development Center for Immune Tolerance at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, reported that three monkeys are still surviving five years after islet transplantation without needing insulin or drugs to prevent rejection. Immediately following their transplant, the monkeys received a two-week course of drugs that masked the immune system’s ability to detect the presence of foreign tissue and prevented future rejection. Because the immune system of primates is similar to the human immune system, this success holds promise for increasing tolerance in humans.
2. Success in Single-Donor Islet Transplants
Refinements in pancreatic islet harvesting for transplant provide more islets from fewer donors.
A big limitation in islet transplantation has been the need to use multiple donor pancreases to accumulate sufficient islets for one transplant procedure. In February 2004, JDRF-funded researchers reported that optimizing methods to collect and process pancreatic islets, combined with "pre-emptive" immune suppression of the recipient, can produce successful single-donor islet transplants. The research team, led by Bernhard Hering, M.D., Associate Director of the JDRF Center for Islet Transplantation at the University of California, San Francisco/University of Minnesota, and Jeffrey A. Bluestone, M.D., Director of the JDRF Center and the Immune Tolerance Network, used the new single-donor transplantation method on six recipients. Insulin independence (defined as normal long-term blood glucose levels and freedom from hypoglycemia, or low blood sugars) has been maintained for more than one year in four recipients, and for more than three years in two of the four. This procedure, if repeated successfully, will likely become standard for islet transplants and will increase the number of type 1 patients that can benefit from islet transplantation.
3. New Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Made Available
Seventeen new embryonic stem cell lines are created and distributed for research.
In March 2004, a team of JDRF-funded researchers at Harvard University announced they had created 17 new human embryonic stem cell lines. The new lines would be made freely available to other scientists, although current U.S. policies forbid the use of federal funds to conduct research with the new cell lines. Researchers hope the availability of the new cell lines will speed research that has the potential to yield new treatments for many diseases, including type 1 (juvenile) diabetes. JDRF is actively working to ensure distribution of these lines for research. The lines were derived in the laboratory of Douglas Melton, Ph.D., Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Melton and his colleagues will use the stem cell lines to better understand how type 1 diabetes develops, and to pursue the long-term goal of coaxing the stem cells to develop into pancreatic beta cells that can be transplanted into patients with type 1 diabetes.
4. Pig Islets Restore Blood Sugar Control in Primates
Insulin-producing islet cells taken from pigs are successful in controlling diabetes in animals, and may be a future source for human transplants.
While researchers hope stem cells will someday serve as a source for islets to be transplanted, in the meantime they are investigating the use of islets from pigs as a temporary solution. Pigs are relatively easy to breed, and their organs are similar to those of humans. In May 2004, JDRF-funded researchers reported that islets from pigs restored blood sugar control after being transplanted into 12 primates with chemically-induced diabetes. Dr. Bernhard Hering, associate director of the JDRF Center for Islet Transplantation at the University of California-San Francisco/University of Minnesota, and colleagues at the University of Minnesota and Immerge BioTherapeutics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, took islets from adult pigs and injected them into 12 monkeys. The islets were tolerated (not rejected) by the monkeys and functioned for more than 100 days.
5. Insulin Secretion Lingers After Diabetes Onset
Researchers discover that type 1 patients still have considerable insulin secretion at diagnosis, leading to a reevaluation of intervention strategies.
In February 2004, JDRF-funded researchers reported in the journal Diabetes that they had discovered that patients newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes retain the ability to secrete much more insulin—at least for a while—than previously believed. The research suggests that beta cell mass at this early stage is surprisingly high, providing researchers with the opportunity to reevaluate strategies for early interventions. Insulin-secreting patterns during this post-diagnosis stage also served as a predictor of how quickly the disease would progress, and these findings could provide a new clinical factor, or "endpoint" on which researchers can focus to study the disease. The study was led by Kevan Herold, M.D., associate professor at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.