U.S. and Canadian researchers believe they have made a breakthrough in researching the cause and possible cure of diabetes. They have known for quite a while now that sufferers of diabetes have damaged nerve ends in the pancreas. It has been thought that the damage was the result of the diabetes, but these researchers think the damaged nerve ends may actually be the cause of the disease.
They believe the defective nerve endings may attract proteins from the body's immune system which attack the pancreas and destroy it's ability to produce insulin, thus causing diabetes.
The researchers have taken mice with type-1 diabetes [also known as juvenile diabetes], and injected a peptide into the defective nerve endings. According to Dr. Hans Michael Dosch of the University of Toronto, the mice were cured of their diabetes "overnight". He said, "It is very effective in reversing diabetes."
Dosch said the nerve endings in the diabetic mice were not secreting enough of the peptides to keep the insulin flowing. According to the researchers, injecting the peptides lowered the body's resistance to insulin, allowing it to carry glucose to the cells.
The next step is for researchers to study people whose family history shows them to be at high risk for type-1 diabetes. If they are found to have the defective nerve endings, then tests will be conducted on the at-risk group and on diabetics. The study and testing will take several years.
The procedure may also be of help to those with type-2 diabetes [also known as adult-onset diabetes], but the reaction in mice so far has not been as strong as with the type-1 diabetic mice.
Huge news, especially for those of us who are diabetic.
ReplyDeleteBig Pharma is going to be pissed if curing this disease amounts to an injection of chili pepper juice -- but they'll probably try to sell it for a thousand dollars a shot anyway.