June 18, 2019
This is the first time that an antibody, teplizumab, has succeeded in delaying the onset of type 1 diabetes.
Advances in diabetes research
To conduct this international study, 76 participants were administered for two weeks teplizumab, this anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody. The results, presented at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) congress in San Francisco, showed that it was possible to delay the onset of autoimmune disease by two years, on the median. The tests were carried out on high-risk subjects during a five-year follow-up.
Teplizumab is able to delay the onset of type 1 diabetes. It can reduce the destruction of pancreatic cells that produce insulin in patients diagnosed with diabetes and recently treated with insulin. Insulin is a protein hormone naturally secreted by the pancreas and allowing glucose to enter the cells of the body in order to regulate the level of glucose in the blood.
Treat diabetes before symptoms
Immunotherapy thus raises hope among researchers. In France, the number of patients with type 1 diabetes is increasing. This autoimmune disease is diagnosed in more than 2,300 young people each year. The patient’s immune system destroys the cells of the pancreas which produce insulin. People then become insulin-dependent and require a daily insulin injection.
This study gives researchers a better understanding of how type 1 diabetes works. It also shows that this autoimmune disease can be treated early, in high risk individuals, before symptoms appear. Thus, relatives of type 1 diabetics presenting the markers of diabetes could, in the future, prevent disease through immune therapy.
Stephanie Haerts
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