Posted by Mary E. on June 02, 1999 at 17:04:32:
06/02 4:16P (RT) New drug helps in diabetes cell transplant
Story 6654 (I/US, I/HEA, I/NEWS, I/DRU, BGEN)
By Jim Loney
MIAMI, June 2 (Reuters) - A new genetically engineered drug
shows promise in preventing the rejection of transplanted
insulin-producing cells, a potentially important early step
toward a cure for diabetes, researchers said on Wednesday.
In a study at the University of Miami's Diabetes Research
Institute, six diabetic monkeys given the drug, called
anti-CD154, along with a transplant of insulin-producing
pancreatic cells, became insulin independent.
The study, to be published in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences in the near future, could be a key
development for diabetes patients who need regular insulin
injections, researchers said.
"As a transplant immunologist, it's one of the most
exciting developments I've seen in 20 years," University of
Miami researcher Dr. Norma Kenyon, the study's author, said at
a news conference. "As the mother of a child with diabetes, I
don't want to raise false hopes. It's a key step forward. We're
not there yet."
The immune systems of diabetics destroy cells that produce
insulin. As a result, they must constantly monitor blood sugar
levels and take regular injections of insulin.
Diabetes affects 15.7 million people in the United States.
nearly 6 percent of the population, according to the American
Diabetes Association. It is the seventh-leading cause of death
and has no cure.
It is a leading cause of blindness and kidney failure, and
its victims are up to four times more likely to suffer heart
disease or a stroke, the ADA said.
The study showed for the first time that insulin-producing
cells, or islets, taken from a donor's pancreas, can be
transplanted into monkeys without being destroyed by their
bodies and apparently without side effects, effectively freeing
the animals from their dependence on insulin.
"If we can get insulin-producing cells transplanted and
take up their normal biological function without rejection and
without the toxic side effects currently associated with
conventional drugs, then it would represent a cure for
diabetes," Kenyon said.
Anti-CD154, an immune system modulator and one of a new
generation of genetically engineered drugs, interferes with the
early stages of the immune system's reaction to the transplant,
but does not have an adverse effect on the insulin-producing
cells, researchers said.
Three of the six monkeys remained insulin-independent for a
year without evidence of toxic side effects normally seen in
anti-rejection drugs.
Clinical trials with the drug, manufactured by Cambridge,
Massachusetts-based Biogen Inc.
start soon at the University of Miami, hospital officials said.
REUTERS
Rtr 16:16 06-02-99