Diabetes Vaccine: Immunotherapy (PIpepTolDC) shot for Type 1 Diabetes
By: Joanna Dakroub
Tags: Health, Healthcare, Diabetes, Diabetes Solutions, Treatment

Research Spotlight

When speaking about vaccination, usually the end goal is to prevent the disease from happening. But have you ever thought of vaccination as a treatment for an auto-immune disease?

Well, the PepTolDC immunotherapy vaccine (a treatment that uses a person’s immune system) is designed just to fit that!

With more than 1.25 billion people worldwide affected by diabetes and 246 million children under the age of 20 affected, this immunotherapy vaccine seeks to not only help patients with type 1 diabetes but also to prevent type 1 diabetes, or T1D before it even starts.

Phase I trials (taking place at the City of Hope Medical Center — California) are investigating the side effects of the PIpepTolDC vaccine in treating patients with type 1 diabetes who use insulin and don’t have any other diabetes-related health complications.

Given that Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, the PIpepTolDC vaccine helps the immune system to stop attacking the beta cells of the pancreas, which may help the beta cells recover and make enough insulin to control blood sugar levels.

The idea of solving the core problem of auto-immune disease is a dream coming true! Better yet, it may have implications for other auto-immune diseases as well.

How does this treatment work?

To understand how this treatment works, it is critical to understand Type I Diabetes first.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. This means that the human immune system, which usually protects against foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses, attacks the body’s insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas marking an autoimmune response. Over time, the beta cells are destroyed by the immune system.

As you can imagine, the standard treatment for people with type I diabetes would be insulin intake. But this can be expensive, chaotic, and often ineffective at maintaining a normal lifestyle.

Here’s the good part: PIpepTolDC vaccine works like an allergy shot. The vaccine is made using one’s immune cells (dendritic cells) and a beta-cell protein. It appears to put an end to the body’s attack on the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. The vaccine aims as well to reactivate immune tolerance mechanisms that are poised to begin repairing beta-cell damage and restoring their ability to secrete sufficient levels of insulin in response to blood glucose levels.

This would be a very important advance in T1D treatment and may even help to reduce future type 1 diabetes-related complications!

How can I get involved?

While this study is still in the first phase of human trials, it has the great promise to have a life-changing impact on people with diabetes and autoimmune disorders across the world. Participants are likely to be paid in addition to having access to the most up-to-date potential treatments and contributing to essential research. Studies like this one can redefine diabetes treatment in the future. If you’re one of the 1.6 million people living with type-1 diabetes in the US, this exciting treatment and potential cure could be available to you.

The trial is currently recruiting around 7 volunteers, all of whom must have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes based on the American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria. Participants also are required to have the historical presence of at least one type-1 diabetes-associated autoantibody and must meet over 30 other criteria as well. It may be confusing at first to understand whether you qualify for this research study. Luckily, MyDiabetesResearch can help you understand which research studies you qualify for! The search tool can even show you the best-fit research studies based on your preferences and medical profile!

If you’d like to learn more about some of the groundbreaking research that is driving us closer to a world free of insulin injections and pumps, feel free to sign up for our email list here or visit our website, www.joindiabetesresearch.com, for more information.