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Human Clinical Trials To Begin On Drug That Reverses Diabetes In Animal Models
Zothecula writes: A study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has shown that verapamil, a drug widely used to treat high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat and migraine headaches, is able to completely reverse diabetes in animal models. The UAB team will now move onto clinical trials to see if the same results are repeated in humans.
It's type 1. I beleive they're doing it by inserting insulin - producing cells that won't get caught by the immune system.
Spork
Whoops, wrong group. They're doing it by inhibiting the buildup of a chemical that kills beta cells.
Spork
TFA specifically says it's type 1 diabetes.
Type 1, actually. They've found a pathway that is involved in triggering beta cell death and a drug that supresses that pathway, leading to regeneration of beta cell mass in animal models. They're literally looking at a way of making the type 1 pancreas work again, which even if it's a little bit, will be able to do the fine-tuned control of insulin better than you ever can with a pump or injections. This is fantastic.
You are missing OP's point, which is type II diabetes is typically a lifestyle/choice disease. Moderation as in, moderate eating, exercise, etc.
However, OP missed something from the article, this isn't type II, but type I diabetes!
Type II is also genetic.
You need to get caught up.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
An animal model is an animal which has been specifically engineered to resemble human disease. For example, there is a mouse model for melanoma which has a specifically engineered copy of the BRAF gene with a V600E mutation that occurs in about half of all human melanomas along with a knock out of the PTEN gene, also very common in human melanomas. These genes are fused to a tyrosenase promoter, which is only expressed in melanocytes in the skin, and a drug activator so that they can be turned on at a specific time and in the correct place. Melanoma is unknown in mice besides this model and previous cases created in the laboratory with chemical or ultraviolet mutagenesis. "Animal model" also implies some body of literature studying the engineered animal to verify that it really does resemble the human condition better than other practically available alternative experimental subjects.
Yeah. Before insulin was discovered, Type I diabetes was a death sentence.
You would effectively starve to death within a year of symptoms showing up, regardless of how much you ate. (IIRC, actual starvation could prevent/slow the progress in some way)
However, once you've been on insulin therapy for a while, eventually you'll be in trouble within hours of insulin becoming insufficient. (An especially big problem for pump users - people using long-acting insulins like Lantus probably will have 1-2 days before they're in serious trouble after stopping administration of insulin.)
This reminds me of rumors of studies a decade or so ago involving administering long-acting insulin to diabetics in their "honeymoon period" (After diagnosis and starting insulin therapy, in many cases a diabetic's requirements for injected insulin will drop to near zero after not too long, but this only lasts for a few months after it starts) - reducing load on the pancreas seemed to prolong the period, allowing them to rely on their pancreas to handle meals and such.
Of interest is the "52 people between the ages of 19 and 45 that have received a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes within the previous three months" - That's a VERY rare category of people. The most interesting is that 3 months is typically within that "honeymoon period". Diagnosis of Type I diabetes that late in life is very uncommon (which is why Type I is often called juvenile diabetes). There's also the fact that this might be far less effective on diabetics who have had the disease for years, who basically have no remaining beta cells. (In most cases, Type I diabetes in mice is artificially induced - in humans the root cause is that the immune system attacks beta cells, however, this might allow at least some of the cells to survive the onslaught by preventing a failcascade due to the cells being overworked.)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
It's type 1 (which I have). It it not necessarily impossible to fix a pancreas that is not producing insulin, because very often, even a type 1 diabetic will have at least a few beta cells. If something can be done to prevent beta cells from being destroyed, the body can produce more, and then a healthy level of insulin can be maintained.
Proverbs 21:19
20 year Type 1 diabetic (LADA) here.
In short, the first poster didn't read the article and reflects the common level of ignorance on this topic.
There is more than 2 types of diabetes,
A lot of what is considered type 1 diabetes is a constellation of diseases that have a complicated relationship with blood sugar levels, beta cell death and the immune system.
What is normally called "type 1 diabetes" occurs at birth and is an immune system defect that shares a mechanism in common with other auto immune diseases which include:
1- Rheumatoid Arthritis
2- Multiple Sclerosis
3- Scleroderma
4- Ulcerative Colitis
5- sjogren's syndrome
The above diseases along with "vanilla Type 1 diabetes" can happen to anyone and are not caused by any lifestyle choice.
There is another clinical trial using adjuvant therapy to reverse type 1 diabetes using a drug that has been in common use to inoculate against tuberculosis and to treat bladder cancer (one of the most curable cancers) since the 1920s. The drug is cheap and would be a game changer for the above diseases once the dosing schedule is worked out to reverse the auto-immune component of the disease.
There is another type of "type 1 diabetes" that occurs in adolescence and early adulthood that is very similar but has characteristics in common with type 2 diabetes:
this is normally referred to as "Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adults" or LADA
There is an autoimmune component, type 2 diabetes drugs that increase insulin sensitivity can help in early onset, but not enough to stop the patient from having to eventually inject insulin in order to survive. In a lot of cases doctors will prescribe insulin therapy and type 2 diabetes drugs such as Metformin to reduce insulin resistance and deal with some of the dangerous effects of such a disease on the body (kidney, retina, nerve and cardiovascular damage) that can be caused by chronic fluctuating blood sugar levels. The drug being investigated here (in the article) would probably be targeted at LADA, as it does not appear to address the auto-immune component of this type of diabetes. This still leaves out the problem of the auto-immune attack on the beta cells, so it would not be a cure, most likely but just another treatment that can save some beta cells.
type 2 diabetes is a complex issue and can be caused by lifestyle, but also can manifest due to infections, Liver disfunction, And,believe it or not an overactive pancreas that secretes too much insulin over time causing a situation of fatty liver, high cholesterol, heart disease and eventually the other issues due to high blood sugar.
I actually had a boss who, when I had hypoglycemia, walked up and snatched some of my emergency glucose treatment, out of my hand and gave me a self righteous attitude "You're eating candy! that is Why you have diabetes!" and he totally didn't understand when I filed a HR complaint against him and schooled him that,
1- My blood sugar was low
2- I take care of my disease and he is NOT educated on MY situation
and
3- He almost got punched in the face (I would have pleaded temporary insanity, per the twinkie defense)
4- My diet, diet decisions and my food are NONE of his BUSINESS!
There is SO much bad information out there concerning type 1 diabetes and so many ignorant individuals who just have no clue what is going on with this disease that get self righteous (Based on their little cartoon model of the world) about stuff they know nothing about.
I have spent 20 years studying how to manage this disease out of a grave necessity to do so to facilitate my survival.
People freak out when they find out that I workout 3 times a week, weight training and running.( I still can run a 5 minute mile at age 41!)
They also give me attitude when they find out that, due to my high metabolism, I eat every 2 hours (yes I eat 8 meals a day) and consume close to 4000 calories a day. I have to do this to maintain a healthy BMI with my lifestyle activity (I am a