Antibody Therapy Shows Promise for Diabetes

An antibody therapy that's approved to treat certain cancers and arthritis has helped prevent--and even beat back--type 1 diabetes in mice. The news is heartening to researchers, who had already launched a human trial of the therapy, rituximab. But it also raises concerns that diabetes patients and their doctors will start trying the drug before it's been shown to work in humans.

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. For years, T cells were considered enemy number one, because they commit the actual attacks. But more recently, scientists have eyed another potential culprit: B cells, which may be setting the T cells off by presenting them with antigens, proteins that stimulate the immune system. The drug rituximab, made by Genentech, is an antibody that depletes B cells and has been shown to combat rheumatoid arthritis, another autoimmune disease. With that in mind, an international network of researchers successfully lobbied for a clinical trial of the drug in type 1 diabetes, even though mouse studies were lacking. That trial, begun last year, has enrolled 82 people--the youngest being 8 years old--and will take another year or so to finish.

From ScienceNOW