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Colorado Researchers Study Diabetes Vaccine

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Sep 24, 2009 6:36 pm US/Mountain

Colorado Researchers Study Diabetes Vaccine

Written for the Web by CBS4 Special Projects Producer Libby Smith

Reporting
Brooke Wagner
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) ― A new study could help patients newly diagnosed with diabetes. Doctors at the Barbara Davis Center for Juvenile Diabetes are testing a vaccine. It's not designed to stop the disease but it could slow it down.

"So this vaccine that's made of a protein called GAD actually is going to reprogram the immune system," said Dr. Peter Gottlieb, Associate Professor of Pediatrics & Medicine at the Barbara Davis Center.

GAD stands for glutamic acid decarboxylase. It's made in the pancreas and many Type 1 diabetes patients develop antibodies to the protein. When they body starts attacking the protein that's when they develop diabetes.

"We're actually going to take this response that's causing disease and now use it to prevent the disease," Gottlieb explained.

With three injections of the vaccine, doctors hope to reintroduce the protein to the body and stop the attack.

"There's previous studies that show that this could work which is why we're sort of encouraged," Gottlieb said.

But the vaccine is only for people newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

"The interesting thing that we know now is that people when they're diagnosed still have about 20 to 25-percent of their own insulin production left. What we're trying to do is maintain that," Gottlieb told CBS4.

Jill Loftus is a student at Metro State. She was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in May.

"I ended up going into the emergency room. I was really dehydrated and sleeping a lot. By the time I got to the hospital, I lost probably like 30 pounds," Loftus explained.

Now she's getting used to a life of checking her blood sugar and watching what she eats.

"I used to eat like a pop and a bag of chips for breakfast, so it's a big difference now where you have to count carbs and watch how much you in-take and stuff," Loftus told CBS4.

Loftus agreed to be a part of the study. So far she's had two of her three vaccine injections and reports no side effects.

"Anything that allows me to produce insulin for a longer period of time is what I want," Loftus said.

The longer that Loftus and other diabetes patients like her make their own insulin the more stable her sugar levels will be and the healthier she'll be in the long run.

Additional Resources:

The Children's Diabetes Foundation is holding a fundraiser benefitting the Barbara Davis Center for Juvenile Diabetes on Saturday, September 26th. The High Hopes Carousel Ball will be held at the Sheraton Denver Downtown and will include entertainers Babyface and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Tickets are available through the Children's Diabetes Foundation, 303-863-1200.

(© MMX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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