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Type 1 Diabetes Vaccine
A Type 1 diabetes Vaccine would either prevent an individual from ever developing Type 1 diabetes. Or the vaccine would alleviate the symptoms of someone already with Type 1 diabetes, with the possibility of not allowing the disease to progress any further.

Currently there are no Type 1 diabetes vaccines ready for the market. However, there has been recent research that provides hope. The research is very promising. So much so that the experts in the field of diabetes research, expect a cure in the form of a vaccine, within twenty years.

Overview on Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes predominantly affects younger individuals, ranging from children to young adults. As a result, another common name for this disease is juvenile diabetes.

When an individual has Type 1 diabetes, their body loses the ability to produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone that the body uses to convert glucose, starch, and other carbohydrates into viable sources of energy, which the body can use to perform its various functions.

Autoimmune Disease

This happens as a result of Type 1 diabetes being an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease is a disease in which the body’s own immune system turns on itself, and attacks healthy tissue within the body. Normally the immune system would just attack toxic cells in the body. However, when a person has an autoimmune disease like Type 1 diabetes, the immune system cannot differentiate between healthy and toxic cells.

Disease Demographics

There are 15 million people around the globe that are currently afflicted with the condition. In addition, there are 3 million people just in the United States that currently live with the disease, and the numbers have been exponentially increasing.

Current Most Successful Clinical Trial/Study
A clinical trial led by Dr. Lawrence Steinman, in correspondence with the Stanford Medical School, has been one of the most groundbreaking forms of research, in terms of finding a vaccine for Type 1 diabetes. This study was published on June 26th, 2013 in the medical journal: Science Transitional Medicine.

How the Vaccine Works

Researchers have called the vaccine that Dr. Lawrence Steinman and his team developed a reverse vaccine. Whereas traditional vaccines like those for polio, measles etc. focus on enhancing the immune response; this “reverse vaccine” shuts down the area of the immune system that is attacking itself.

For example, in Type 1 diabetes the immune system attacks the beta cells in the pancreas, where the hormone insulin is produced. Hence, destroying the body’s ability to produce insulin. This vaccine however destroys the part of the immune system that is attacking the beta cells in the pancreas. As a result, it effectively stops Type 1 diabetes in its tracks, and preserves the beta cells that help produce insulin. Furthermore, this vaccine increases the level of C-peptide, a protein involved in making insulin.

Details of the Study

The vaccine was first administered to mice, and the mice showed positive results with increased beta cells, and increases in the level of C-peptide.

Next, researchers gave the vaccine to 80 human subjects once a week for twelve weeks. The human subjects responded similarly to the mice, in that they had increased beta cells, and increases in the level of C-peptide. The vaccine essentially halted the progress of Type 1 diabetes. However these results wore off after three months of not administering the vaccine. Finally it is important to note that none of these subjects experienced any adverse side effects.

Discussion of Results

The results of this study indicate that a vaccine for Type 1 diabetes is possible in the near future. However, this was a small study and a much bigger one will need to be conducted to see if these results can be replicated. In addition, scientists will have to figure out a way in which the vaccine doesn’t wear off as it did in this study.