Gleevec used to treat type 1 diabetes

[Guest guest]

Scientists have successfully used a leukemia drug to reverse type 1 diabetes—at

least in mice. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and

Plexxikon, a pharmaceutical research firm, studied two cancer drugs—Gleevec

(imatinib) and Sutent (sunitinib)—in non-obese diabetic mice, which were prone

to developing diabetes. Both drugs are tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which

interfere with cell communication and growth and are used to fight tumors.

Gleevec is prescribed for chronic myelogenous leukemia and Sutent is used to

treat advanced kidney cancer and a type of stomach cancer. In the diabetic

mice, scientists wanted to know if the inhibitors could reduce pancreatic

inflammation. Type 1 diabetes is brought on by an autoimmune disease that causes

inflammation in the pancreas and destroys insulin-producing cells.

When the mice were fed the medications for seven weeks before diabetes typically

develops (usually at 12 to 14 weeks of age), none of the animals developed

diabetes. What’s more, 80% of the Gleevec-treated animals remained diabetes-free

after the treatment stopped, compared with 30% of the other mice. Though

they’re a long way from being approved for therapy in type 1 diabetics, the

study’s authors say the drugs could ultimately be used to treat type 1 diabetes

and, possibly, other autoimmune diseases. The study was published Monday in the

journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Juvenile

Diabetes Research Foundation.

All this and more can be found at this website:

http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/11/17/leukemia-drug-type-1-diabetes-cure/

FYI,

Lottie Duthu