New research from Uppsala University could point the way to a new way to treat, reverse, or even cure Type 1 diabetes.

The breakthrough work, published in the journal Scientific Reports, represents a big step forward in using anti-inflammatory immunotherapy to treatment diabetes.

Researchers found mice engineered to have diabetes that were treated with interleukin-35 — a protein made by immune cells — were able to maintain a normal blood glucose level.

In Type 1 diabetes, patients must take insulin — a hormone produced by the beta cells in the pancreas — to prevent a harmful rise in the blood glucose level. It is a condition that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy cells.

For the new study, lead researcher Kailash Singh studied immune regulatory T cells' actions in diabetic mouse and found their bodies produce destructive proteins instead of protective anti-inflammatory proteins such as interleukin-35.

"This suggests that the good guys have gone bad in early development of Type 1 diabetes and therefore our immune cells destroy the beta cell," said Singh.

But the researchers found interleukin-35 reversed that process in mice, suggesting it might offer a promising new treatment or cure for diabetes.

"To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to show that IL-35 can reverse established Type 1 diabetes,” said Singh. “Also, we are providing an insight into a novel mechanism: how immune regulatory T cells change their fate under autoimmune conditions.”