Type 1 diabetes treatment

Type 1 diabetes treatment could reduce need for insulin injections

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/11/type-1-diabetes-treatment

Human trials have begun on a new type 1 diabetes treatment that could improve the lives of future sufferers of the disease. Developed by scientists at the University of Cambridge, the treatment could reduce a patient’s insulin injections from several per day to potentially just a few times a week. The immunological treatment slows damage to the pancreas, meaning that newly diagnosed patients, in future, may be able to retain the ability to produce insulin naturally.

By preferentially boosting the regulatory part of the immune system, he says, they hope patients will be able to retain the ability to produce their own insulin, reducing the need for artificial insulin injections.

Injections of interleukin–2 have also been investigated as a possible way of treating graft–vs–host disease, where the body attacks stem cell or bone marrow transfusions, or other tissue transplants.

This is superb news for those with Type 1 Diabetes. Nobody wants to go through the rigmarole of injecting oneself several times each day in order to keep insulin levels up. This new treatment could reduce the number of injections to possibly just a few times a week. By slowing damage to the pancreas and boosting the regulatory part of the immune system there is the hope that patients will be able to produce their own insulin. With the trial having only positive results so far with no side effects, this could be a large breakthrough in this field. As useful as this is, it will only be useful to persons diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes early (up to two years), otherwise the damage to the pancreas will have become too extensive. I believe this is an excellent new treatment; it will hopefully reduce damage to the pancreas to enable patients to produce more of their own insulin without relying on as many daily injections and it could potentially have multiple uses as it is being investigated for treating graft vs host disease.
So far this treatment with no side effects far outstrips that of long lasting artificial insulin. It may allow for injections only three times a week, but it does nothing to counteract the problem of damage to the pancreas and can lead to hypoglycemia. I believe this is an superb new treatment which will be able to help those with Type 1 Diabetes lead more normal and functional lives by having less injections (which will in turn reduce healthcare costs) and will help reduce damage to the pancreas.

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