Type 1 diabetes in mice reversed

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Type 1 diabetes in mice reversed

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., April 21 (UPI) -- University of Virginia Health

System has discovered a combination of human-safe treatments that

reversed the course of Type 1 diabetes in mice.

The researchers found a combined therapy of colleagues and exendin-4

effectively reversed newly acquired Type 1 diabetes, also called

autoimmune diabetes, according to Dr. Jerry Nadler, chief of the

division of endocrinology and metabolism.

Nadler and colleagues theorized that simultaneously blocking a

biological pathway that damages beta cells in the pancreas, while

adding a growth-promoting stimulus for beta cells, might provide the

critical ability to reverse Type 1 diabetes.

" This finding is very exciting because it one day may provide an

opportunity to restore insulin-producing cells in people with Type 1

diabetes without the need for toxic anti-rejection medications, "

Nadler said.

In the United States there may be 2 million people with Type 1 diabetes.

The findings are published online in Biochemical and Biophysical

Research Communication.

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