Diabetes Breakthrough: Disease Cured In Mice
Friday, December 15th, 2006The following article is of great interest to people like me who have suffered with Type 1 diabetes for close to thirty years:
In a discovery that has stunned even those behind it, scientists at a Toronto hospital say they have proof the body’s nervous system helps trigger diabetes, opening the door to a potential near-cure of the disease that affects millions of Canadians.
Diabetic mice became healthy virtually overnight after researchers injected a substance to counteract the effect of malfunctioning pain neurons in the pancreas.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Dr. Michael Salter, a pain expert at the Hospital for Sick Children and one of the scientists. “Mice with diabetes suddenly didn’t have diabetes any more.”
The researchers caution they have yet to confirm their findings in people, but say they expect results from human studies within a year or so. Any treatment that may emerge to help at least some patients would likely be years away from hitting the market.
This news knocked me for a loop when I read it. A single injection reversed the diabetes in the mice and lasted almost four months. I know that I’d sure prefer to take a single injection every three or four months and have my pancreas work normally rather than daily injections of Insulin.
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