Slashdot Mirror
Finnish Team Makes Diabetes Vaccine Breakthrough
jones_supa writes "A team working at Tampere University, Finland has discovered the virus that causes type 1 diabetes. The enterovirus penetrates the pancreas and destroys insulin-producing cells, eventually causing diabetes. Researchers have looked at more than a hundred different strains of the virus and pinpointed five that could cause diabetes. They believe they could produce a vaccine against those strains. One virus type has been identified to carry the biggest risk. A vaccine could also protect against its close relatives, to give the best possible effect. A similar enterovirus causes polio, which has been almost eradicated in many parts of the world thanks to vaccination programmes. A prototype diabetes vaccine has already been produced and tested on animals. Taking the vaccine through a clinical trial would cost some 700 million euros. Some funding is in place from the United States and from Europe, but more is required. Professor Heikki Hyöty says that money is the biggest obstacle in moving to testing in humans, but he sees that people are interested in their research and that the funding problems will ultimately be solved."
It is worth noting this is for type 1 diabetes, not type 2 which is the modern plague resulting largely from bad diet and inactivity. That said, if you know somebody for whom diabetes is a lifelong affliction since childhood, and kids who need shots for diabetes, that's type 1. A cure would be a huge deal.
That would be type 2 diabetes. Some of the already-described causes of type 1 are genetic (as opposed to this virus).
it sounds legitimate. finnish articles don't have that much more info. they're gathering money for trials. but the source in finnish medical scene should be treated legitimate from what I know(it's a well known big university in Finland, from Finlands 2nd biggest city). diabetes-alliance(not probably best translation..) treats it as legitimate, the mentioned prof admits that so far it is not water tight connection yet. it's related to gene sampling and following of kids with high risk of diabetes 1, that project starting back in 1994.
there's two things in play, the virus and a genetic factor(a risk gene, which is supposed to fight the virus).
more info in finnish:
http://www.diabetes.fi/diabetesliitto/lehdet/diabetes-lehden_juttuarkisto/diabeteksen_ehkaisy/enterovirusten_salat_aukenevat.2246.news
earlier stuff on the connection between the virus has been published in british medical journal, fwiw.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Myth: eating too much sugar causes diabetes
Do you guys even bother reading your own links?
Myth: Eating too much sugar causes diabetes.
Fact: The answer is not so simple. Type 1 diabetes is caused by genetics and unknown factors that trigger the onset of the disease [editor: we know this, that isn't what the debate is about]; type 2 diabetes is caused by genetics and lifestyle factors.
Being overweight does increase your risk for developing type 2 diabetes, and a diet high in calories from any source contributes to weight gain. Research has shown that drinking sugary drinks is linked to type 2 diabetes.
The American Diabetes Association recommends that people should limit their intake of sugar-sweetened beverages to help prevent diabetes. Sugar-sweetened beverages include beverages like:
regular soda
fruit punch
fruit drinks
energy drinks
sports drinks
sweet tea
other sugary drinks.
These will raise blood glucose and can provide several hundred calories in just one serving!
Rubycodez isn't saying a certain amount of sugar directly causes diabetes in all cases. He is saying consuming large amounts of sugar is tied to the onset of diabetes. Which is what the American Diabetes Association also says.
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
Abstract:
Enteroviruses have been connected to type 1 diabetes in various studies. The current study evaluates the association between specific enterovirus subtypes and type 1 diabetes by measuring type-specific antibodies against the group B coxsackieviruses (CBV) which has been linked to diabetes in previous surveys. Altogether 249 children with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes and 249 control children matched according to sampling time, gender, age and country were recruited in Finland, Sweden, England, France and Greece during the years 2001-2005 (mean age 9 years; 55 % boys). Antibodies against CBV1 were more frequent among diabetic children than in control children (OR=1.7, 95%CI=1.0-2.9) while other CBV types did not differ between the groups. CBV1-associated risk was not related to HLA genotype, age or gender. Finnish children had lower frequency of CBV antibodies than children in other countries. The results support previous studies suggesting an association between group B coxsackieviruses and type 1 diabetes, highlighting the possible role of CBV1 as a diabetogenic virus type.
You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part.
has discovered the virus that causes type 1 diabetes.
Already a problem right there, though it might be in translation. There are several viruses known to trigger the autoimmune response that generally causes type 1 diabetes.
multiple similar enteroviruses, according to the articles. they're developing a vaccine for the most common one which may or may not also work for it's relatives...
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
When in Rome.
Do you guys even bother reading your own links?
Anonymous Coward is correctly pointing out that while it's linked, the actual relationship is more complicated than that, and that is why "Eating too much sugar causes diabetes" is a myth. Rubycodez was making a joke and hence his comments shouldn't be taken that seriously, however the joke did rely upon the myth that consuming too much sugar causes diabetes, otherwise his joke wouldn't make sense. That is why Anonymous Coward's link was relevant.
This is my footer. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
it sounds legitimate.
I review stuff like this for a living. This does look like a legitimate, promising study.
The guy has done a lot of research. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Hy%C3%B6ty%2C+Heikki%5BAuthor+-+Full%5D
TFA doesn't say what the virus is, but I guess that it's group B coxsackievirus 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxsackie_B_virus#Diabetes that Hyöty was working on.
That said, it's a mouse study. I always used to say, "Mice, humans, what's the difference? We're all mammals, right?"
Then a researcher at Rockefeller University clued me in. "Humans are not big mice."
As the saying goes, "We've cured cancer in mice a million times."
It's great to model a disease in mice. But the diabetes type I they model in mice might not be the same as type I diabetes in humans. Probably for every 10 mouse studies, 1 holds up in humans. And for every 10 human studies, 1 turns out to be actually useful against the disease.
But hey, this is immunology. When it comes down to what causes a disease like diabetes type I, nobody really knows, so 1 in 100 is pretty good odds.
If you have 100 researchers working on it, you've got a pretty good chance that somebody will get it.
Diabetes type I is an autoimmune disease. You get exposed to a trigger, your immune system goes after the trigger, but it also starts attacking other things. In diabetes type I, it attacks the beta cells of the pancreas, which produce insulin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes_Type_I The trigger might be a virus, or it might be something else. Hyöty thinks it's a virus, in fact group B coxsackievirus 1. If he can prove that it is a virus and he's identified it (in humans, not just mice), he'll be doing pretty good.
And if Hyöty can come up with a vaccine that will prevent coxsackievirus infection in humans, we can give it to kids and they'll never get diabetes type I. That will be great. I hope it works.
That's the important qualification. If he's ready to go to test it in humans, that's pretty good. But he's still got a long way to go. And a lot of vaccines don't make it.
Oh, give him the money. We've wasted E700 million on a lot of stupider things that you could probably think of.
If this vaccine is promising, then the big pharmaceutical companies will probably spot him E700 million for clinical trials (although that does seem a bit high). If it really does prevent type I diabetes, it should be a successful vaccine.
20% for consumer goods?
I think Walmart sells those ... OK, according to Yahoo finance:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=WMT
Walmart have a profit margin of 3.61%
Not 20%.
That's almost certainly a translation error. The University of Tampere press release states that "these studies clearly show that members of the group B coxsackieviruses are associated with the risk of type 1 diabetes", and the offending sentence in the Yle article would be the same in Finnish irrespective of whether the virus found is the only one or not (e.g. "löytänyt viruksen" would be "discovered a/the virus"). Finnish grammar doesn't have the concept of definiteness, meaning that a translator working from a Finnish source text would in many cases have to guess the intended meaning or look it up elsewhere. For similar reasons, many Finns have problems figuring out whether to use a definite or indefinite article when writing in English.
Imagine living in a town called that: "The virus family he discovered was eventually given the name Coxsackie, for the town of Coxsackie, New York, a small town on the Hudson River where Dalldorf had obtained the first fecal specimens.[3]"
"The village name is a native word mak-kachs-hack-ing, and when purchased by the Dutch settlers was written as Koxhackung.[1] It is generally translated as "Hoot-owl place"[2] or "place of many owls"."
But I'm pretty sure Dalldorf et al didn't care about the latter and still giggle when hearing their peers say Coxsackievirus.
Best media reporting
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7926026.stm
Most notable analysis (scroll to bottom, in square brackets)
http://www.promedmail.org/direct.php?id=20090308.0959
The ProMed moderator links to related background research, points out that there are 5 specie of Enterovirus distinct enough that one vaccine could not fit all, it is 'premature' to announce it this way until the particular agent and mechanism is identified.
So by all means forge ahead, but be prudently wary of anyone who implies this is in the final stage where a vaccine is just around the corner.
---
If we were to fund LFTR research with the same dedication and fervor that we funded the polio vaccine, America could be energy-independent within 30 years, forever. Off-topic, pretend it's my sig.
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
Type 2 diabetes comes with the occasional need for medications, a few doctor visits, and lifestyle changes.
I think you're confused.
Type 2 diabetes can progress to the stage where it is just as difficult to manage as Type 1. Your body can become resistant to medications such as glucophage and then you end up on insulin anyway. Glucophage doesn't even work for all Type 2 patients, some have to use insulin regardless. In fact, they have developed synthetic insulin that is very concentrated specifically for people with Type 2 diabetes. No I am not a doctor, but I know someone with severe Type 2 diabetes and I know an ICU doctor who has to deal with diabetics on a regular basis.