Health and Wellness

Diabetes

 


Diabetes Cure and New Diabetes Study

Diabetes complications are the second largest cause of deaths in the United States.  About two million people in the United States have Type 1 diabetes that is treated by insulin.  Many others have Type 2 diabetes and about five percent are not aware they have diabetes.  They won’t be diagnosed until they decide they are abnormally tired, urinating too much, and hungry and thirsty all the time.  These are the most common signs of diabetes. 

Researchers are experimenting and looking for a cure for Type 1 diabetes.  A team of scientists and diabetes experts recently released a study showing that by using a combination of two drugs, they were able to reverse Type 1 diabetes at the beginning of the disease.  These two drugs were successful in reversing diabetes in most of the mice tested.  This success allows them to predict they will be using humans in clinical trials soon. 

Two separate clinical trials have proved that a combination of drugs called anti-CD3 and the reversal was preserved for over a year.  Researchers are excited about the possibility of a cure for diabetes, especially those who deal with early onset diabetes, or Juvenile diabetes.  These clinical trials still need approval and would include trials with individuals who have recently diagnosed with diabetes or those who are considered pre-diabetic. 

Since complications from high glucose levels get worse with time, the hope is that this combination of drugs will reverse the diabetes before it has time to damage major organs.

They use the drug combination to teach the immune system to tolerate rather than attack the insulin producing cells in the pancreas.  The combination seems to calm the immune system and lessens the attack on the cells.  Regulatory cells are also injected to specifically protect these beta cells.  The drugs were used as a vaccine with few side effects and it was proved the disease didn’t reoccur during the life span of the mice tested.

Good news for everyone if this proves to be the breakthrough scientists and doctors have been looking for.  Especially with children who are diagnosed, if their diabetes could be reversed, they could have normal lives!  Combining this vaccine with plenty of exercise, enough sleep, and a healthy diet could mean the end of this terrible disease.  Complications from Type 1 diabetes include kidney disease, blindness, and even amputations. 

If this drug duo is confirmed to be a usable vaccine against diabetes, it will be the first time that scientists were able to reverse diabetes and keep healthy levels of blood sugars in the animals tested.  This drug combination may restore insulin-producing cells without the need for a pancreas transplant and damage from anti-rejection drugs.

We need to encourage our researchers and scientists to continue working on the cure for this terrible disease.

 When trials are started on humans, the combination of the anti-CD3 and nasal proinsulin may create the drug that they have been looking for.  It would be a wonderful, modern cure for people around the world.


 

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