Researchers will look at effects in people with longstanding disease
WebMD News from HealthDay
<h3/> By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
<h3/> TUESDAY, June 9, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers are launching a clinical trial to see if a vaccine approved long ago to prevent tuberculosis may also hold promise as a treatment for type 1 diabetes.
The proposed five-year study is designed to investigate whether repeated injections of the tuberculosis vaccine bacille Calmette-Guerin (or BCG vaccine) can quiet the immune system attack that causes type 1 diabetes and improve blood sugar levels in people with long-standing diabetes.
"BCG is showing so much promise in worldwide trials [for conditions such as multiple sclerosis]," said study author Dr. Denise Faustman, director of the immunobiology laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
While some may hold out hope that BCG will reverse type 1 diabetes in people, findings from Faustman's earlier -- albeit smaller -- human trial suggest the effects are likely to be far more subtle.
"The goal [for the new study] is to create a therapeutic response," said Faustman, who added that such a response might help prevent some of the most serious complications of type 1 diabetes.
The researchers announced the start of their phase 2 trial Sunday at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting in Boston.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. That means the body's immune system mistakenly attacks a healthy part of the body as if it were a foreign substance. In the case of type 1 diabetes, the immune system turns on the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.
The BCG vaccine works by increasing levels of a substance called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in the body, Faustman said. Higher levels of TNF cause an increase in the amount of good immune system cells, and lower levels of the bad cells that are responsible for destroying the beta cells, she explained.
Higher levels of TNF appear to be helpful in certain autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, celiac disease and possibly some forms of psoriasis and autoimmune thyroid disease, according to Faustman. There are, however, some autoimmune conditions -- such as rheumatoid arthritis -- where higher TNF levels can be a problem.
WebMD News from HealthDay
<h3/> By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
<h3/> TUESDAY, June 9, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers are launching a clinical trial to see if a vaccine approved long ago to prevent tuberculosis may also hold promise as a treatment for type 1 diabetes.
The proposed five-year study is designed to investigate whether repeated injections of the tuberculosis vaccine bacille Calmette-Guerin (or BCG vaccine) can quiet the immune system attack that causes type 1 diabetes and improve blood sugar levels in people with long-standing diabetes.
"BCG is showing so much promise in worldwide trials [for conditions such as multiple sclerosis]," said study author Dr. Denise Faustman, director of the immunobiology laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
While some may hold out hope that BCG will reverse type 1 diabetes in people, findings from Faustman's earlier -- albeit smaller -- human trial suggest the effects are likely to be far more subtle.
"The goal [for the new study] is to create a therapeutic response," said Faustman, who added that such a response might help prevent some of the most serious complications of type 1 diabetes.
The researchers announced the start of their phase 2 trial Sunday at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting in Boston.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. That means the body's immune system mistakenly attacks a healthy part of the body as if it were a foreign substance. In the case of type 1 diabetes, the immune system turns on the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.
The BCG vaccine works by increasing levels of a substance called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in the body, Faustman said. Higher levels of TNF cause an increase in the amount of good immune system cells, and lower levels of the bad cells that are responsible for destroying the beta cells, she explained.
Higher levels of TNF appear to be helpful in certain autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, celiac disease and possibly some forms of psoriasis and autoimmune thyroid disease, according to Faustman. There are, however, some autoimmune conditions -- such as rheumatoid arthritis -- where higher TNF levels can be a problem.
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