Unique drug combination
shows promise for reversing Type 1 diabetes
July 24, 2008
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Jerry L. Nadler, M.D., FAHA |
NORFOLK, VA — Results from a recent study show that a new,
two-drug combination holds promise for reversing Type 1 diabetes.
Researchers tested the combination of Lisofylline (LSF), a drug that is
being developed to halt immune damage to insulin- producing cells, and
Islet Neogenesis Associated Protein peptide (INGAP), a drug based on a
naturally occurring protein produced by the pancreas.
The study was conducted at the University of Virginia by a team of
scientists led by Jerry L. Nadler, M.D., who recently joined the faculty
at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) as chairman of the Department
of Internal Medicine and director of the EVMS Strelitz Diabetes Center.
Results of the study were presented at the American Diabetes
Association’s 68th Annual Scientific Session held in San Francisco.
INGAP was discovered in 1997 at the EVMS Strelitz Diabetes Center by
Aaron I. Vinik, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Internal Medicine and the
Strelitz Center’s Director of Research.
Diabetes is caused by the body’s inability to produce or process
insulin, a hormone that cells need to convert food into energy.
Uncontrolled diabetes causes serious complications throughout the body,
including cardiovascular disease, blindness, kidney failure and nerve
disease. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, caused when the
body’s immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys the
insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. This damage was once thought to
be irreversible; however, new evidence suggests that the pancreas has an
innate ability to repair and regenerate the insulin-producing cells. In
Type 1 diabetes, however, the pancreas’ ability to self-repair cannot
keep pace against the autoimmune response that is causing the diabetes.
In this study, diabetic mice were either given a placebo (saline) or
treated with LSF, INGAP peptide or LSF and INGAP together. The remission
rate was most striking when mice were first treated with LSF in an
effort to dampen the autoimmune system and then treated with the
combination of LSF and INGAP peptide. This novel therapy resulted in a
remission of diabetes in 70 percent of the mice after all treatments
were withdrawn, including animals with very high blood glucose levels
prior to treatment. Mice treated with INGAP peptide alone or INGAP
peptide/LSF combinations averaged markedly higher levels of serum
insulin after treatment than saline-treated controls and were similar to
non-diabetic mice. It was only when the combination of LSF and INGAP was
used that a reversal of hyperglycemia was observed.
“These are very encouraging results,” Nadler said. “Since both LSF and
INGAP are already known to be safe, we should soon be able to begin
testing the combination of LSF and INGAP in the clinic as a potential
therapy for Type 1 diabetes in people soon.”
Nadler was recruited to EVMS as part of a strategic initiative to expand
the medical school’s research capabilities in four areas where the
state’s eastern region has specific health needs and EVMS has existing
research strengths, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, women’s
health/infant development and cancer.
“Our ultimate goal is to improve the health of individuals by
discovering novel approaches to the kinds of diseases that take a
serious toll on the quality of life in our community and around the
world,” said Gerald J. Pepe, Ph.D., Dean and Provost of Eastern Virginia
Medical School. “Dr. Nadler’s work with LSF and INGAP is exactly the
kind of innovative new therapy that we want to bring to fruition.
Imagine the impact it would have to be able to reverse diabetes.”
The Iacocca Foundation, the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation and
the Farish Foundation funded the study.
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