Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have made an exciting discovery: a combination of human-safe treatments reversed the course of Type 1 diabetes in mice.

A combined therapy of lisofylline and exendin-4 effectively reversed newly acquired Type 1 diabetes, also called autoimmune 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," Dr. Jerry Nadler, chief of the UVa Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism said.

Type 1 diabetes represents 5-10 percent of all diabetes cases diagnosed, and in the United States there may be 2 million people with Type 1 diabetes.

 

This treatment also helped the mice to return to and maintain normal, healthy levels of blood sugar. Even after treatment was stopped, blood sugar remained normal until the experiment was completed, as many as 145 days post-treatment.

This is the first time that researchers have found a way to reverse diabetes by providing a combination treatment that also could help maintain normal levels of blood sugar in a mammalian model.

“This treatment may someday benefit people with diabetes, because both LSF and Ex-4 have been tested in humans for other benefits and have been found to be safe,” Nadler said.

Source: University of Virginia Health System  

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