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.
