Diabetes May Be Reversed By Long-Used Vaccine For TB

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-08/diabetes-may-be-reversed-by-long-used-vaccine-for-tb.html

A tuberculosis vaccine in use for 90 years may help reverse Type 1 diabetes and eliminate the life- long need for insulin injections, say Harvard University researchers raising money to conduct large, human studies.

Patients with Type 1 diabetes must inject insulin daily to control their blood sugar because their bodies don’t produce the hormone, the result of an errant immune system that destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. The vaccine, called bacillus Calmette-Guérin, or BCG, stimulated production of a protein that killed the insulin-attacking cells, according to the findings of an early-stage study published yesterday in the journal PLOS One.

Insulin injections help control Type 1 diabetes for the 3 million Americans with the disease, though there is no cure for the condition usually diagnosed in childhood. Results of the trial showed that two of the three patients given BCG had signs of renewed insulin production. The researchers now plan a larger study that could yield results in three to five years.

“We think this can be taken all the way to the market and that is what we are trying to do.” said Denise Faustman, director of Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital’s immunobiology laboratory, who led the study.

[Chemisse]

1. This is stunning!

My son has type 1 diabetes and it has ravaged his life.

Must we wait 5 years? If it's as simple as a TB vaccine, why not get it out there faster?

[xchrom]

2. can you ask your doctor about seeing if there are on going trials for this?

i always bug my doctors for promising trial of this or that.

doesn't hurt to try.

[Chemisse]

3. Good idea.

I will talk with my son about this. At the very least it will give him hope.

[trotsky]

4. Huge news in the fight against a terrible disease! n/t

[MineralMan]

5. I hope this proves out in the trials.

It would be a great boon to the world.

[Celebration]

6. the TB vaccine

is known to be pretty toxic. The protein that is stimulated by BCG is pro-inflammatory NF Kappa-B. So people definitely should not try this on their own. This proposed treatment has a very long history that includes a lot of animosity among competing Harvard researchers, letters to the editor of NY Times, name calling at the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). If it succeeds, ultimately, it will certainly not be because of the powers that be promoting it. I believe that Iacocca is still probably supporting it, but I think he was not prepared for all the animosity.

Yes, there were preliminary results--the signs of renewed insulin production didn't mean that the subjects could stop insulin. Faustman thinks the trick is perfecting the dosage, and is investing in some kind of new technology to measure autoimmunity.

This is an expensive trial and almost all of the support is from private donors, not the JDRF or government. That is why the publicity now. This proposed, controversial treatment has been in the works for quite a long time. I assume now she will get some money from somewhere. This article hints at all the controversy--and it it has been long standing, and mean-spirited.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-08-08/lifestyle/sns-rt-us-usa-health-diabetesbre8771ik-20120808_1_denise-faustman-islet-cells-jdrf

Here is some more background--OUCH!

http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2005/05/01/4126/why-did-the-jdrf-try-to-discredit-cure-research/

[mzteris]

7. isn't BCG used widely in Europe

and has been for some time?

[Celebration]

8. it is used

I believe in some places it is used to try to prevent TB, which it is only moderately successful, depending on location and other factors.I think the side effect profile is similar to a small pox vaccine. For the diabetes treatment, the proposal is to use it over a period of time, maybe as often as once a week, or even more. They really have no idea of the dosages, and it is possible the treatment would have to be continuous. And, they really don't know how well it will work. Obviously it does at least a little something, at least temporarily. But it boosts pro-inflammatory proteins and that is not something that one would want to do on a continuous basis. Therefore it is not something that some Type 1 diabetes person should try on their own. It won't work that way, and could be harmful.

Maybe in the studies, they could try the BCG first, but if continued treatment is needed, go to something like low dose naltrexone, which is showing really great results in Crohn's Disease (but not really Type 1 diabetes, or at least not a cure).

Edited to add: the controversy was not about the effects of BCG--all the controversy was about scientific theory, competing ideas about autoimmunity, jealousy, money, the whole bit............all involving Harvard researchers. And nobody was being quiet about it. What a clusterfuck! People were blasting the JDRF for their part in the affair. It has a very tightly controlled way of giving grants, practically all slanted towards support of traditional ideas at established diabetes centers.

The NY Times had a really favorable, long article about Faustman's research a few years ago. A fellow Harvard researcher into autoimmunity wrote a scathing, biting, sarcastic and mean letter about her research to the NY Times as a result of the article. The Times felt the letter had no merit, after looking into it, and refused to publish it. Meanwhile, when the NY Times refused, the JDRF did. You see, the Iacocca Foundation was trying to solicit money for Faustman's research (L. Iacocca's first wife died from Type 1 diabetes). The JDRF was hopping mad that Iacocca was competing with them in fund raising successfully. Some people may have pulled their support from JDRF to give to Iacocca. Iacocca acted with so much class in the whole thing. Finally he convinced the JDRF to come out with a joint statement that was about making peace. The JDRF eventually gave some money to the competing Harvard researcher to replicate the studies of Faustman, and they were mostly confirmed, but naturally the two researchers at Harvard had different views on the meaning of the results. Iacocca eventually stopped trying to solicit money for the project. But Faustman really needs money badly. She could probably do the trials more cheaply than she says, but what do I know. Nothing.