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Experimental gene therapy offers hope to diabetics
April 30, 1997
Web posted at: 8:11 p.m. EDT (0011 GMT)From Medical Correspondent Jeff Levine
(CNN) -- Researchers have discovered a gene that may lead to a treatment for diabetes by regenerating the cells that normally produce insulin in the body.
Diabetics don't produce enough insulin to control sugar levels in their bodies. The gene known as ingap could help by jump-starting production of the vital hormone made by the pancreas. The gene produces a protein that already has reversed diabetes in some lab animals.
"If you could rejuvenate your pancreas to make new islets capable of secreting insulin, you could cure diabetes. We certainly have done that in animals," Dr. Aaron Vinik of Eastern Virginia Medical School said.
Vinik hopes to do the same in humans.
"We'll be able to treat people with the protein, or we'll be able to treat with the gene and use gene therapy. The alternative is we may be able to find methods of turning on the protein or turning on the gene within the human body," he said.
Vinik's findings are published in the latest issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Eli Lilly and Co. has bought the rights to the gene's products, although any drug is probably five years away from being marketed -- if it wins approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Diabetes can be controlled with insulin injections, oral medication or diet. But there can be serious side effects. The illness affects an estimated 16 million Americans.
The ingap gene offers a more natural approach than insulin injections, if it can survive the body's immune defenses.
"It is true that these islets will be attacked, but I suspect that in the next few years we'll have certain forms of therapy that, perhaps, can help us prevent the attack," said Dr. Derek LeRoith of the National Institutes of Health.
For years, researchers have hoped they could restore normal insulin levels in diabetics. The ingap gene is one of many ideas aimed at saving the nearly 170,000 Americans who will die from diabetes-related illnesses this year.
Related story:
- Could a pill a day keep diabetes away? - September 10, 1996
Related sites:
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- Journal of Clinical Investigation
- American Diabetes Association
- The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
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