Did You Know: How Close Are We To A Type 1 Cure? Five Years?

We now know that Inflammatory agents deplete growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) and kill susceptible beta cells to cause type 1 diabetes. Current research has shown us that adding back GDF15 protects beta cells in treated mice.

When the researchers measured levels of GDF15 in pancreas tissue from people with diabetes, they found the protein was depleted in their malfunctioning islet cells. But the key piece of evidence emerged when the scientists treated non-obese diabetic mice with GDF15, and it reduced the development of diabetes by 53%. “From the results, it was hypothesized that reduced GDF15 was not a good thing for islet survival, and indeed that was the case,” said Raghu Mirmira, a study principal investigator. “This work opens the way for us to consider these sorts of ‘islet protective factors’ as therapies to prevent or reverse type 1 diabetes. This approach differs substantially from current thinking that targets the immune system. While GDF15 may be one new therapy, we identified other proteins that may work in conjunction with GDF15, so this work represents a treasure-trove of information that can be mined for new therapies,” said Mirmira. The researchers are now working on the idea that low levels of GDF15 in islets may somehow be playing a proactive role in instigating the autoimmune attack that ultimately kills them.

Mirmira, until recently, served as a professor of pediatric diabetes and director of the Center for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases at Indiana University School of Medicine. He is now a professor of medicine in the Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism at the University of Chicago. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Cell Metabolism Jan 2020

Steve Freed, R.Ph, CDE, Publisher

Diabetes in Control gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the following pharmacy doctoral candidates in the preparation of this week’s newsletters: