'Retrained' Immune System May Slow Type 1 Diabetes Attack

Peptides are considered highly selective and efficacious while being relatively safe and are simultaneously well tolerated by the body.

Experts believe it may be possible to “retrain” immune systems to safely slow the advance of type 1 diabetes, following a new trial.

A general view of King's College in central London

Press Association report continues:

Injecting patients with “small fragments” of protein molecules helped prevent cells from attacking insulin, researchers at King’s College London (KCL) and Cardiff University observed.

The disease starts when the body mistakenly targets cells in the pancreas that maintain blood sugar levels.

There is no known cure, but these results suggest scientists are “heading in the right direction”, Professor Mark Peakman of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and KCL, said.

Prof Peakman, who led the trial, said: “When someone is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes they still typically have between 15% and 20% of their beta cells. We wanted to see if we could protect these remaining cells by retraining the immune system to stop attacking them.

“The peptide technology used in our trial is not only appears to be safe for patients at this stage, but it also has a noticeable effect on the immune system.”

The immunotherapy was trialled on 27 patients and was placebo-controlled.

Type 1 diabetes afflicts some 400,000 people in the UK, one of the highest rates in the world. It can affect the body’s major organs and sufferers have to inject themselves regularly with insulin.

Dr Elizabeth Robertson, director of research at Diabetes UK, said: “These new findings are an exciting step towards immunotherapies being used to prevent this serious condition from developing in those at high risk, or stop it from progressing in those already diagnosed.”

Karen Addington, chief executive of type 1 diabetes charity JDRF, said: “Exciting immunotherapy research like this increases the likelihood that one day insulin-producing cells can be protected and preserved. That would mean people at risk of type 1 diabetes might one day need to take less insulin, and perhaps see a future where no one would ever face daily injections to stay alive.”

The MonoPepT1De trial was supported by Diabetes UK and JDRF. The research was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.