Health Updates
Gene Therapy: A Milestone in the War
on Diabetes
Medical researchers are using new information from the science
of genetics to develop treatments for life-threatening diseases.
Three noninfectious diseases, diabetes, cancer, and Parkinson's
disease may soon be part of the new cutting-edge treatments
being developed.
Help for Type 1 Diabetes
One of the most promising findings in this ground-breaking
area was recently reported in the journal Nature. The
findings were reported by a joint research team at Yonsei
University in Korea and the University of Calgary in Canada.
The team has developed a technique that may dramatically change
the lives of people with type 1 diabetes. This type of diabetes
is the form that most often develops in childhood. Almost
all teens with diabetes have type 1.
Scientists have long recognized that people with type 1 diabetes
are unable to produce insulin. This is a hormone produced
in the pancreas by cells known as beta cells. Insulin
is used to convert sugar from food into energy.
Recent discoveries prove that diabetes is an autoimmune disease.
This is a type of disease in which the body's own immune system
turns on itself. In the case of diabetes, the beta cells are
mistakenly identified as intruders. The immune system sends
out chemical messengers to attack and destroy them.
A Shot in the Arm
Historically, diabetics have had to take daily shots of insulin
to make up for this lack. Patients have also had to closely
monitor their blood-sugar levels.
The new gene therapy may change all that. The new research,
which is still in its infancy, proposes reprogramming the
diabetic's genetic makeup. An insulin gene would be delivered
into the patient's body. This gene would replace the defective
one that launches the assault on the beta cells. The person's
blood sugar would become self-regulating, as is the case in
non-diabetics.
An Improvement on Past Efforts
Previous efforts have been made at treating diabetes "at
the source." These have included giving diabetics a new
pancreas. These efforts have had their downsides. The biggest
drawback was that patients were required to take drugs to
prevent their bodies from rejecting the new organ. These drugs
have serious side effects. The new therapy would avoid this
problem.
Other challenges still face researchers. One is getting the
insulin levels right. A factor that makes this difficult is
changes in the body's secretion of the hormone that naturally
occur as people age and grow.
In spite of these issues, the new directions offer a ray
of hope for type 1 diabetics. That is the hope of living a
normal life.
Just the Facts
- What is an autoimmune disease?
- How may the new gene therapy change the lives of diabetics?
- What problems remains to be solved by researchers of the
new gene therapy?
Beyond the Facts
- Explain in your own words (a) what insulin does in a normal
body, and (b) how the immune system of a diabetic changes
this routine.
- Explain in what way the new treatment for diabetes would
be an improvement over cutting-edge treatments of the recent
past.
Applying the Facts
Working with several classmates, create a flowchart that
details the content of this article. Begin by listing the
steps normally followed by the pancreas in converting the
body's sugar into energy. Next show how the immune system
of a diabetic interferes with this process. Finally, show
how the new gene therapy may restore this process to its normal
state. Share your completed flowchart with your class.
