A drug currently prescribed to treat psoriasis could help treat the early stages of Type 1 diabetes in children and young people without the need for insulin, a new study finds. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells. Traditional treatment options leave a person dependent on insulin injections, but researchers have been developing ways to slow or halt this attack on the immune system.
Researchers from Cardiff University, King’s College London, Swansea University, and the University of Calgary noted that patients might not require insulin injections if such treatments can stop the attack before all the insulin-making cells have been destroyed. The research team found that rather than targeting insulin, ustekinumab addressed the immune system and its insulin-suppressing processes. When Th17.
1 cells were targeted, participants’ bodies continued to produce insulin. “It would be better if we could treat them at an earlier stage, while the children are still well, and prevent them needing insulin,” clinical professor Colin Dayan from Cardiff University said in the press release. A simple finger-prick antibody test can detect Type 1 diabetes in children years before they will require insulin.
Researchers say combining such preventative measures with ustekinumab could help prevent reliance on insulin..
