New Drug Therapy May Lead To Cure For Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes develops when your pancreas stops making insulin, what the body needs to break down sugar. Nobody knows why this happens, and there’s no cure for it. Patients rely on taking insulin, but now, doctors say a drug could make that a thing of the past.Last year at this time, Ohio native Kaitlin Walsh-Reed was taking off on a plane for a trip to Florida. But today, the 17-year-old’s plane landed 800 miles north, outside Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.
It’s not exactly a vacation, but Kaitlin makes the trip every few weeks for medical care. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes four months ago. "When I first heard that I had it, I thought it was something like really bad," she recalled. "I was kind-of scared." Kaitlin’s part of a new study on a drug called Rituximab. It targets the body’s B-cells, which could preserve any insulin-producing cells a newly-diagnosed patient still has or even jump-start insulin production. "It has implications both in terms of prevention as well as achieving a cure," explained pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Henry Rodriguez, of Indiana University School of Medicine. "That they can find a cure for diabetes… I would love it," she said, but for today, Kaitlin’s happy to just be going home.Rituximab is currently used to treat lymphoma, rheumatoid arthritis, and other autoimmune diseases. If the drug is effective for diabetes, it could reduce some of the long-term problems linked to it, like heart disease, vision loss and kidney damage. But researchers aren’t there yet. In the meantime, Kaitlin will continue checking her blood sugar levels before each meal and keep careful records of her calories and carbs. But she hopes someday, she won’t have to. "That they can find a cure for diabetes… I would love it," she said, but for today, Kaitlin’s happy to just be going home. Rituximab is currently used to treat lymphoma, rheumatoid arthritis, and other autoimmune diseases. If the drug is effective for diabetes, it could reduce some of the long-term problems linked to it, like heart disease, vision loss and kidney damage.
BACKGROUND: According to the American Diabetes Association, type 1 diabetes, formally known as juvenile diabetes, is usually diagnosed in children and young adults and develops when the pancreas stops producing insulin. Insulin is necessary for the body to be able to use sugar. Sugar is the basic fuel for the cells in the body, and insulin takes the sugar from the blood into the cells. Patients must monitor their blood sugar levels by taking blood tests multiple times a day and take insulin through injections or inhalants, as there is no cure for the disease. In healthy people, a normally functioning pancreas monitors blood sugar consistently and delivers just the right amount of insulin to keep that blood sugar within the normal range.
UNDER STUDY: In a new international clinical trial led by doctors at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, patients who have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes within the last three months are candidates, as they are still in the "honeymoon" phase of the disease. This refers to a patient still having between 10 percent and 30 percent of insulin-producing cells left. In this new study, patients are given injections of the B-cell targeting drug rituximab (Rituxan) in the hope that this honeymoon phase can be prolonged. Diabetes is easier to manage in this period, but ultimately, doctors hope it could lead to a cure. The first step would be preserving any insulin cells a patient has left and potentially make him or her less susceptible to some of the long-term consequences associated with the disease, such as heart disease, circulatory problems, vision loss, and kidney damage. The next step would be finding a way to stimulate the re-growth of insulin-producing cells, which would in essence produce a cure. One of the studies leaders, pediatric endocrinologist, Henry Rodriguez, M.D., says: "If we can determine that there is a means to safely prevent the immune system from destroying those insulin-producing cells, then, we then have something that we can take to those individuals that are at risk for developing the disease. Hopefully, at that point, we would have the situation where we could better identify individuals who are at risk and treat them with a safe therapy that would prevent them from developing diabetes to begin with." He adds, "This a therapy that has a potential of revolutionizing how we treat type 1 diabetes, whether or not we screen for it, outside of a research study, whether we can prevent it. So it has implications both in terms of prevention as well as achieving a cure. That is what I’m excited about."
RITUXIMAB: Doctors are essentially trying to alter the immune system so that it no longer recognizes insulin-producing cells as being foreign. Patients in the study receive rituximab weekly during the first four weeks of their participation in the study and will then be followed for two years — and likely for a number of years after that. Doctors are looking for a primary outcome of a preservation of the ability to make insulin a year out. They will enroll 66 patients over two years at 15 centers. The study is funded by TrialNet ( http://www.diabetestrialnet.org )
Article source: http://www.diabetesnews.com/
