Diabetes breakthrough...Toronto scientists cure disease in mice

Good Afternoon all! My love sends out daily emails (commonly forwards), some are funny, others are enlightening, some are political, and well some you just don't know what to think. If you would like to become part of his emailing list please contact him on his blog site link to your right, Mixxedkid's Place in Space. Today's forward was from a Canadain Newspaper in reference to diabetes. With many close family and friend affected by this disease this was something that I felt was important to share.

By: Tom Blackwell, National PostPublished: Friday, December 15, 2006 In a discovery that has stunned even those behind it, scientists at a Toronto hospital say they have proof the body's nervous system helps trigger diabetes, opening the door to a potential near-cure of the disease that affects millions of Canadians. Diabetic mice became healthy virtually overnight after researchers injected a substance to counteract the effect of malfunctioning pain neurons in the pancreas. "I couldn't believe it," said Dr. Michael Salter, a pain expert at the Hospital for Sick Children and one of the scientists. "Mice with diabetes suddenly didn't have diabetes any more." The researchers caution they have yet to confirm their findings in
people, but say they expect results from human studies within a year or so.
Any treatment that may emerge to help at least some patients would likely be
years away from hitting the market. But the excitement of the team from Sick
Kids, whose work is being published today in the journal Cell, is almost palpable. "I've never seen anything like it," said Dr. Hans Michael Dosch, an immunologist at
the hospital and a leader of the studies. "In my career, this is unique." Their conclusions upset conventional wisdom that Type 1 diabetes, the most serious
form of the illness that typically first appears in childhood, was solely caused
by auto-immune responses -- the body's immune system turning on itself. They
also conclude that there are far more similarities than previously thought
between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, and that nerves likely play a role in other chronic inflammatory conditions, such as asthma and Crohn's disease. The "paradigm-changing" study opens "a novel, exciting door to address one of the diseases with large societal impact," said Dr. Christian Stohler, a leading U.S. pain specialist and dean of dentistry at the University of Maryland, who has reviewed the work. "The treatment and diagnosis of neuropathic diseases is poised to take a dramatic leap forward because of the impressive research." About two million Canadians suffer from diabetes, 10% of them with Type 1, contributing to 41,000 deaths a year. Insulin replacement therapy is the only treatment of Type 1, and cannot prevent many of the side effects, from heart attacks to kidney failure. In Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin to shift glucose into the cells that need it. In Type 2 diabetes, the insulin that is produced is not used effectively -- something called insulin resistance -- also resulting in poor absorption of glucose. The problems stem partly from inflammation -- and eventual death -- of insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas. Dr. Dosch had concluded in a 1999 paper that there were surprising similarities between diabetes and multiple sclerosis, a central nervous system disease. His interest was also piqued by the presence around the insulin-producing islets of an "enormous" number of nerves, pain neurons primarily used to signal the brain that tissue has been damaged. Suspecting alink between the nerves and diabetes, he and Dr. Salter used an old experimental trick -- injecting capsaicin, the active ingredient in hot chili peppers, to kill the pancreatic sensory nerves in mice that had an equivalent of Type 1 diabetes.

Article Taken from the National Post