A group of American and Dutch scientists have developed a genetically engineered “reverse vaccine” intended for the treatment of type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent), and successfully conducted the first phase of its clinical trials. Unlike conventional vaccines, the drug BHT-3021 does not activate, but suppresses the patient’s immune system, thereby restoring normal insulin biosynthesis. The work was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes is based on the insufficiency of insulin production by the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas, caused by their destruction under the influence of an autoimmune process. The main target of attack by immune killer cells - CD8-positive T lymphocytes - is proinsulin, a precursor of insulin.
In order to reduce the hyperactivity of the immune system and protect beta cells, the authors, specialists from Stanford (USA) and Leiden (Netherlands) universities, developed the BHT-3021 vaccine using genetic engineering methods, which is a circular DNA molecule (plasmid) that plays the role of a vector for delivering the genetic code of proinsulin. Once in the body's tissues and body fluids, BHT-3021 "takes the hit" - distracting the attention of killer cells, thereby generally reducing their activity, without affecting the rest of the immune system. As a result, beta cells regain their ability to synthesize insulin.
The first phase of clinical trials of BHT-3021, which had previously proven its effectiveness in an animal model, included 80 patients over 18 years of age who had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the past five years. Half of them received weekly for 12 weeks intramuscular injections BHT-3021, and the other half was a placebo.
After this period, the group receiving the vaccine showed an increase in blood levels of C-peptides, a biomarker indicating restoration of beta cell function. There were no serious side effects reported in any of the participants.
BHT-3021 is still far from commercial use. It was licensed to California-based biotechnology company Tolerion, which intends to continue clinical trials of the vaccine on a wider range of patients. It is expected that 200 young people diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes will take part in them. Scientists want to test whether BHT-3021 can slow or stop the progression of the disease at an early stage.
Type 1 diabetes is believed to affect about 17 million people worldwide. Most often, it affects young people - children, adolescents and adults under 30 years of age.
Disability, exhaustion of the body - consequences diabetes mellitus. The immune system is suppressed as a result of which a person is highly susceptible to the influence of viruses and various diseases. Modern medicine solves this problem by vaccinating diabetics. The mandatory program for the use of vaccines for a group of patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes includes monitoring and observation by the attending physician, mandatory adherence to nutritional recommendations and healthy image life.
From the flu virus
If you have diabetes, it is recommended to get vaccinated against influenza every season. Fatalities in this category of patients from influenza are numerous. This vaccination is also indicated for pregnant women. It is best to get vaccinated against influenza in mid-autumn: October - November. Influenza patients should not stop taking the medications prescribed to them by their endocrinologist.
For pneumococcal infection
If you have diabetes, doctors strongly advise you to get vaccinated against pneumococcal infection. For a reaction after vaccination Special attention should be used by diabetics over 65 years of age. Sinusitis, pneumonia and meningitis are some of the side diseases in this group of patients that can arise due to infection with pneumococci.
For hepatitis B
People with signs of type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus are advised to get vaccinated against hepatitis B. A weakening of the effect of this vaccine has been recorded in 2 cases: in people over 60 years of age. This vaccination can be done at the discretion of the attending physician and the patient himself. This is due to the low impact rate of the vaccine at this age. Obese populations also have problems.
More than 50% of patients with this disease have weight problems. A dense layer of fat prevents the vaccine needle from properly impacting the muscle.
Diabetes and the connection to some childhood vaccines
Whooping cough vaccine
Diabetes – possible consequence vaccination against whooping cough in children. The body's reaction to vaccination is an increase in insulin production with subsequent depletion of the pancreas, that is, the islets of Langrens, which synthesize this hormone. The consequence can be 2 diseases: hypoglycemia and diabetes. Complications from this vaccination can lead to low blood glucose levels in the child. This vaccine contains pertussis toxin. Refers to toxic substances. May affect the body in unpredictable ways. Therefore, doctors decided to check the connection between the pertussis vaccine and diabetes.
Vaccine against rubella, mumps and measles
MMR is one of the medical names. The components contained, namely rubella, affect children's body like a real disease. Mumps and rubella are known to cause type 1 diabetes. If a child is infected in the womb and has had rubella during gestation, diabetes may subsequently develop after the rubella vaccine is given due to the interaction of the weakened virus with what is already present in the child’s body. Since the pancreas is the target organ of the carnivorous agent, the likelihood of developing diabetes mellitus is high.
The mumps component, like the true virus, can affect the pancreas and provoke pancreatitis. With a weakened state of the organ, the risk of developing diabetes mellitus remains high level. In this case, pig antibodies negatively affect the beta cells of the pancreas, attacking them.
In San Diego, at the American Diabetes Association conference, the results of a small pilot study examining a vaccine against type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) in children were presented.
Unfortunately, the results are disappointing - two injections of quartz glutamate decarboxylase (alum-GAD), used with an interval of 30 days, do not delay the onset of the disease and do not have a preventive effect.
Has several stages. In the first stage, patients develop antibodies to glutamate decarboxylase, a pancreatic islet enzyme, and another islet antibody. During this period there are no clinical symptoms and the glycemic level remains normal. In the second stage of the disease, prediabetes develops and antibodies continue to circulate, and only in the third stage do clinical symptoms appear and a diagnosis is usually made.
Previous small studies have shown that alum-GAD therapy is associated with preservation of beta-cell function in individuals with early-stage type 1 diabetes, but this has not been confirmed in large analyses.
Methods
Dr Larsson and colleagues from Lund University (Sweden) randomized 50 children in the first and second stages of type 1 diabetes into the study and included either their group or alum-GAD.
Inclusion in the study took place from 2009 to 2012, and patients were followed for 5 years.
The average age was 5.2 years (range 4 to 18 years). At the time of inclusion in the analysis, 26 (52%) children already had impaired glucose tolerance.
Children were administered subcutaneously 20 μg of alum-GAD or placebo 2 times with an interval of 30 days. Oral and intravenous glucose tests were performed before injection and every 6 months during the follow-up period.
results
- During the observation period, no serious adverse events were noted in any patient. Use of alum-GAD was not associated with rapid progression to diabetes or the development of any other autoimmune disease.
- The analysis showed no effect of alum-GAD on delaying or preventing type 1 diabetes. After 5 years, DM was diagnosed in 18 children; no statistically significant differences were obtained between the groups (P = 0.573).
Despite negative results research, search for preventive drugs and effective molecules, the use of which is possible in early stages diabetes should continue, experts say.
The high prevalence and high mortality rate from it forces scientists around the world to develop new approaches and concepts in the treatment of the disease.
It will be of interest to many to learn about innovative treatment methods, the invention of a vaccine against diabetes, and the results of world discoveries in this area.
Treatment of diabetes
Treatment results achieved by using traditional methods, appear after a long period of time. Modern medicine, trying to reduce the achievement of positive dynamics of treatment, is developing more and more new drugs, using innovative approaches, getting better and better results.
In the treatment of type 2 diabetes, 3 groups of drugs are used:
- (2nd generation).
The action of these drugs is aimed at:
- decreased glucose absorption;
- suppression of glucose production by liver cells;
- stimulation of insulin secretion by influencing pancreatic cells;
- blocking body cells and tissues;
- increased sensitivity to insulin in fat and muscle cells.
Many drugs have disadvantages in their effects on the body:
- weight gain;
- , itching on the skin;
- disorders of the digestive system.
It is considered the most effective and reliable. It is flexible in application. You can increase the dose or combine it with others. At joint appointment with insulin, it is permissible to vary the dosage, reducing.
The most proven treatment method for diabetes types 1 and 2 has been and is insulin therapy.
Research here also does not stand still. With the help of genetic engineering achievements, modified short- and long-acting insulins are produced.
The most popular are insulin short acting and – long-term.
Their combined use most accurately duplicates the normal physiological secretion of insulin produced by the pancreas and prevents possible complications.
A breakthrough in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus was the practical experiments of Dr. Shmuel Levit at the Israeli Assut clinic. His developments are based on a gravicentric concept, which changes traditional approaches, putting the change in patient habits in the first place.
The computer blood monitoring system created by Sh. Levit monitors the functioning of the pancreas. The appointment sheet is drawn up after decoding the data from the electronic chip that the patient wears on himself for 5 days.
To maintain a stable condition when treating patients with type 1 diabetes, he also developed a device that is attached to the belt.
It constantly detects blood sugar and, using a special device, administers an automatically calculated dose of insulin.
New therapy methods
To the very innovative methods Diabetes treatments include:
- use of stem cells;
- vaccination;
- cascade blood filtration;
- transplantation of the pancreas or its parts.
The use of stem cells is an ultra-modern method. It is carried out in specialized clinics, for example, in Germany.
Stem cells are grown in the laboratory and injected into the patient. New blood vessels and tissues are formed, functions are restored, and glucose levels are normalized.
Vaccination has made an encouraging announcement. For almost half a century, scientists in Europe and America have been working on the creation of a vaccine against diabetes.
The mechanism of autoimmune processes in diabetes mellitus is reduced to destruction by T-lymphocytes.
A vaccine created using nanotechnology should protect pancreatic beta cells, restore damaged areas and strengthen the necessary remaining T-lymphocytes, since without them the body will remain vulnerable to infections and oncology.
Cascade blood filtration or extracorporeal hemocorrection is used when severe complications sugar disease.
The blood is pumped through special filters, enriched the necessary medications, vitamins. It is modified, freed from toxic substances, which negatively affected the vessels from the inside.
In the world's leading clinics, in the most desperate cases with severe complications, transplantation of an organ or its parts is used. The outcome depends on a well-chosen anti-rejection agent.
Video about diabetes from Dr. Komarovsky:
Medical research results
According to data from 2013, Dutch and American scientists have developed the BNT-3021 vaccine against type 1 diabetes.
The vaccine works by replacing the beta cells of the pancreas, exposing itself instead to destruction by T-lymphocytes of the immune system.
The rescued beta cells can begin producing insulin again.
Scientists called this vaccine a “reverse vaccine” or reversal. By suppressing the immune system (T-lymphocytes), it restores the secretion of insulin (beta cells). Typically, all vaccines strengthen the immune system - a direct effect.
Dr. Lawrence Steinman of Stanford University called the vaccine "the world's first DNA vaccine" because it does not create a specific immune response like a regular flu vaccine. It reduces the activity of immune cells that destroy insulin without affecting its other components.
The properties of the vaccine were tested on 80 volunteer participants.
Research has shown positive result. None side effects were not identified. In all subjects, the level of C-peptides increased, which indicates the restoration of the pancreas.
Formation of insulin and C-peptide
To continue testing, the vaccine was licensed to the biotechnology company Tolerion in California.
In 2016, the world learned about a new sensation. At the conference, the President of the Mexican Association for Diagnosis and Treatment autoimmune diseases Lucia Zarate Ortega and President of the Victory over Diabetes Foundation Salvador Chacon Ramirez presented a new vaccine against type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
The vaccination procedure algorithm is as follows:
- 5 cc of blood is drawn from a vein from the patient.
- 55 ml of a special liquid mixed with saline is added to a test tube with blood.
- The resulting mixture is sent to the refrigerator and kept there until the mixture cools to 5 degrees Celsius.
- Then heated to human body temperature of 37 degrees.
When temperatures change, the composition of the mixture changes quickly. The resulting new composition will be the necessary Mexican vaccine. This vaccine can be stored for 2 months. Treatment with it along with special diets and physical exercise lasts a year.
Before treatment, patients are asked to undergo a full examination right there in Mexico.
The achievements of Mexican research have been certified internationally. This means that the Mexican vaccine has received a start in life.
Relevance of prevention
Since innovative treatment methods are not available to everyone suffering from diabetes, the prevention of the disease remains a pressing issue, because type 2 diabetes is precisely the disease, the ability to avoid getting sick mainly depends on the person himself.
Proper nutrition is of paramount importance in prevention.
It is necessary to limit sweets, starchy foods, fatty foods. Avoid alcohol, soda, fast food, fast and questionable food, which includes harmful substances, preservatives.
Increase herbal products, rich in fiber:
- vegetables;
- fruits;
- berries.
Drink up to 2 liters of purified water throughout the day.
