[nab486]

Anyone have any thoughts on this article? Sounds intresting to me. I had read some about it before, but this had more details.


DIABETES DRUG HELPS BODY MAKE INSULIN CELLS
Aaron Derfel, CanWest News Service
MONTREAL, Oct. 16, 2003 -- A Montreal physician who discovered a protein that could reverse the effects of diabetes is optimistic about the drug after clinical trials in the United States showed it is safe and well tolerated.

The next step is to test higher doses of the Islet Neogenesis Gene Associate Protein therapy on diabetics and to determine whether it's effective. Proctor and Gamble Pharmaceuticals is recruiting 200 people in the U.S. with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes for a clinical trial.

"I'm very positive," said Lawrence Rosenberg, who continues to experiment with the drug on animals at Montreal General Hospital.

"The fact it appears to be safe is exciting, and the work we're doing in animals is very positive in terms of generating new insulin tissue."

The experimental drug is a form of biological therapy, stimulating the body to create new insulin-producing cells, or islets.

Diabetes occurs when the pancreas fails to release enough of the hormone insulin to break down sugar in the blood.

An excess of blood sugar can cause cardiac problems, kidney failure and blindness and require amputations. To date, the most common treatment has been injections of synthetic insulin. There are also glucose sensitizers that make better use of insulin, and chemicals that squeeze out what little insulin exists in diabetics.

Rosenberg's INGAP therapy, however, would address the root causes of diabetes -- an insufficiency of islets.

In the early 1980s, Rosenberg stumbled upon a human protein that triggers the creation of islets. Aaron Vinik of the Eastern Virginia Medical School then found a way to refine the protein.
The researchers first tested a cruder synthetic version of INGAP on hamsters with diabetes, and cured 60 per cent of the animals. Rosenberg tested a purer form of INGAP last year on laboratory mice and achieved a 100-per-cent cure rate.

"In an animal model that's similar to juvenile (Type 1) diabetes, we're able to show a beneficial effect -- prolonging survival and decreasing blood sugar," Rosenberg said of his latest experiments.

On GMP's website, the company has announced that patients will be administered single daily doses of INGAP for up to 90 days. Rosenberg said that in animal experiments, he has found the injections can be stopped after a certain period of time. That suggests the animals regained the ability to regulate insulin naturally in their bodies.

If all goes well, INGAP could be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration within five years, Rosenberg said. Health Canada would probably approve it a year later.

In human trials, Rosenberg said, he expects INGAP to be more effective for Type II diabetics, although it could work for Type I as well.

In Type 1 diabetics, their immune systems mistakenly recognize the islets as foreign and destroy them. Type 2 diabetes mainly affects people older than 45, usually as a result of obesity. Disturbingly, however, a growing number of overweight adolescents are developing Type 2 diabetes. In both cases, their islets malfunction -- partly because they are damaged by an excess of fat in the bloodstream.

Diabetics must be constantly aware of the amount of sugar in their blood. They must be careful not to administer too much insulin for fear of losing consciousness.

The standard therapies are far from a cure.

[lgvincent]

It would be nice if it worked.

[HeatherP]

How come it's always cures for T2's???? Can't we T1's ever get in on anything?

[lgvincent]

Yes, it does seem like every new development is for the type 2 diabetes and it's rare that there is anything new for the type 1 diabetes. Maybe they all just want to get rid of us.

[Shalyndria]

Hey, the article doesn't say it won't work for us Type 1's. Something's better than nothing.

[nab486]

Actually, I thought it was weird that it said that about being better for type two's. Everything I had read prior to this particular article about this said it was better for type 1's because it adresses the islet problem and not the insulin resistance problem. who knows? Hopefully it will work.

Jamie

[WiseWords]

Here is another article that I think has better info on INGAP
It not only represents a possible cure for diabetes,
but it is equally applicable to Type 1 or Type 2.
And, it has already worked,
on mice and hamsters.
They are now starting Phase II studies in humans.
I will post the link for sign-up info if I come across it.
It is at selected centers in some parts of the US.

The most notable thing about this is that
although it is the closest we have come to a
bonafide cure for diabetes, without the
immune/rejection problems associated with transplants,
it is not something that the big drug companies
and manufacturers of diabetes supplies want to
have happen !

Lilly makes over a billion dollars per year from the
sale of Humulin insulin alone, and
several billion more from the sale of its other
diabetic supplies and oral medicines.
Think that they want to lose that?

Lilly actually got in on the INGAP research in 1997,
and then backed out two years later, stating
that it was not in their future interests,
primarily to their stockholders.

Now Protor & Gamble has put themselves in it
with a measly $6 million for research.
Do you know how much Squibb has paid for
the rights to continue research on Basulin,
a new insulin still in the development stages,
but which Squibb hopes to make a pile of money
from? $20 million up front, and an additional
$145 million, for a total of $165 million !

Meanwhile, the soap & powder company has
invested only $6 million for a potential cure.
(They do have a pharmaceutical division.)

Big Biz does not want a cure for diabetes,
even though it may be out there.

[Harold]

Great, but I have questiona. Like where do these extra cells come from? Do they come frome stemcells we have already in our bodies, like the ones used to make new red blood cells. For the most part we are born with all of the cells we will ever have. They replace themselves about fifty times before dying off and when you were born they already did it about twenty five times. This will need some long term research.

[Alaska]

In tests on animals, researchers found that INJECTED peptide travels to the pancreas, where it apparently "wakes up" inactive adult stem cells. Once stimulated, the formerly sleepy cells give birth to beta cells, which are responsible for manufacturing insulin. The peptide also seems to trigger the creation of companion cells in the pancreas, which begin making glucagon and other hormones needed to regulate blood sugar.

[mg_2204]

Hello,

I read somewhere Type I will be harder to cure because the body is turning against itself and the mechanisms and triggers at the source of this are still very much a mystery. We still need to learn so much about the human body. My guess is that if researchers focus on understanding and finding a cure for T1, diabetes --all types-- would be a thing of the past. And good riddance too! I am surprised the article says this will cure T2... I've always thought research was primarily done to cure T1. If we cure T1, would be walk in the park to cure T2 then, right? What is being done for T1 then?!?? Anyone knows? Sometimes I get the feeling research is done to help people suffering from diabetes but not so much in finding a CURE. If we compare to let's say cancer research... are the same efforts being done to *c*u*r*e* diabetes???


Bye!

Marie

[DeusXM]

Here's my little cynical bit....

Probably the reason why they say this will be more sucessful for T2 is because people with T2 still actually produce insulin. The beta cells are still present, so theoretically they can clone. Us poor sods with T1 don't have these cells anymore.

I'm by no means a biologist, but I'd guess that the scientists aren't too comfortable growing something from nothing.

Plus (and this is the REALLY cynical bit), there's far more people with T2, so naturally there's far more money for whoever cures it, than someone who does T1.

As for the hope that diabetes will be a thing of the past, i doubt it, since T1 is genetic and we don't know which genes are responsible yet, and T2 is predominantly lifestyle based anyway so until we eliminate both those factors, the big D will still be around, but hopefully should be a bit easier to shift in future.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a cure, but I can't help but think that biologically I'm a bit different from a mouse.

[mg_2204]

Hello Deus...

They have found the genes responsible for cystic fibrosis so I don't see why they couldn't find those responsible for diabetes.

Insn't it just awful it all comes down to how much money they will make out of it...?!?!???

[DeusXM]

Not saying they won't find them, it's just that it's a rather time consuming effort. Also CF is an obvious cell mutation so they just need to find the genes for those cells. No-one's really sure what causes the body to destroy the Beta cells yet, though there are theories. But before we find the genes responsible, we need to find the process that causes T1 first.

[Jon]

Where do they find all those diabetic hamsters? From what I understand, they have to kill the beta cells in the hamsters to make them diabetic. So regrowing them shouldn't be too hard. In a human being however, the body is killing the beta cells (type 1). From what I understand, the pancreas can regrow the cells, but the body keeps killing them off. So even if they find a drug to grow new cells, they still have to stop the body from destroying them.

I have never heard that type 2's need more beta cells. I thought that was just a problem with the body resisting the insulin that is already there. I don't see where they are going with this study.

[statdeac]

Originally posted by Jon

I have never heard that type 2's need more beta cells. I thought that was just a problem with the body resisting the insulin that is already there. I don't see where they are going with this study.

Jon, I think in type 2 that the beta cells go into hyper mode when they think that they aren't producing enough insulin for the body. Eventually, they just wear out as opposed to the body attacking them.