A new Type 1 diabetes immunotherapy has just been proven safe and effective after its first trial in the United States.
According to Tech Times, a group of doctors and scientists coming from the University of California, San Francisco have successfully conducted a type 1 diabetes immunotherapy. The first trial shows that the said therapy is safe and proven to produce no serious effects in the health.
First author Jeffrey A. Bluestone and Mary Margaret Clausen which is a Distinguished Professor in Metabolism and Endocrinology at UCSF, stated that the positive result can change the course of type 1 diabetes medication.
"This could be a game-changer. For type 1 diabetes, we've traditionally given immunosuppressive drugs, but this trial gives us a new way forward. By using Tregs to 're-educate' the immune system, we may be able to really change the course of this disease," said by the two researchers.
The study was conducted by employing regulatory T cells named as Tregs. These T cells have the capability to lessen the immune system's attack on the beta cells and yet maintain its ability to battle against infectious diseases.
There are fourteen patients involved which aged from 18 to 43 years old. Divided into four groups, each participant were then infused with millions and even billions of Tregs cells.
The results show that no opposing effects were recorded for patients who accepted more than 2.6 billion cells that protect the body's insulin-fabrication capability.
Bluestone also added that the application of Tregs is not only limited to the treatment of diabetes. According to him, the T cells also offer great potential for the medication of other autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and neurological diseases.
According to Better Health channel, one of every ten Australians with diabetes has type 1 diabetes. T1D is said to be more common in Australia than the other countries as there were six Australians of all ages that has a type 1 diabetes.
