An international team of scientists has taken the first step toward developing an insulin vaccine that could one day be used to prevent Type 1 diabetes.
The team — including diabetes specialists from Germany, Vienna, Bristol, and Denver — reported the development in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The researchers said tests of the oral vaccine in children at risk for the disease “a positive immune response” that made them less likely to be diagnosed with the metabolic condition.
People with Type 1 diabetes require several insulin injections every day of their lives because their bodies’ immune systems destroy the beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. But the new insulin vaccine aims to help "retrain" this immune response to prevent diabetes.
Children in the study were treated with oral insulin once daily over periods averaging six months. They were then compared to children who received no treatment.
"We were pleased to see that there were no unwanted side effects and thus far only signs that we could mimic what normally happens in children who don't get Type 1 diabetes," said lead researcher Ezio Bonifacio.
Co-researcher Anette-Gabriele Ziegler called the approach "a revolutionary way to prevent Type 1 diabetes, but it is quite logical that if the body's immune system doesn't learn how to make the protective responses by itself, we need to give it a little help."
The study was funded, in part, by the
American Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.