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Researchers Say They Can Reverse Type 1 Diabetes

April 24, 2006

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Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System say a combination of treatments reversed the course of Type 1 diabetes in mice.

Using this model, the researchers found that a combined therapy of lisofylline (LSF) and exendin-4 (Ex-4) effectively reversed newly acquired Type 1 diabetes, also called autoimmune diabetes.

Dr. Jerry Nadler, chief of the UVa Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, and colleagues theorized that simultaneously blocking a biological pathway that damages beta cells in the pancreas, while adding a growth-promoting stimulus for beta cells, might provide the critical ability to reverse Type 1 diabetes.

"This finding is very exciting because it one day may provide an opportunity to restore insulin-producing cells in people with Type 1 diabetes without the need for toxic anti-rejection medications," Nadler said.

Type 1 diabetes represents 5-10 percent of all diabetes cases diagnosed, and in the United States there may be 2 million people with Type 1 diabetes.

The treatment also helped the mice to return to and maintain normal, healthy levels of blood sugar. Even after treatment was stopped, blood sugar remained normal until the experiment was completed, as many as 145 days post-treatment.

This is the first time that researchers have found a way to reverse diabetes by providing a combination treatment that also could help maintain normal levels of blood sugar in a mammalian model.

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