Researchers Work On Type 1 Diabetes Vaccine
By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The idea of a vaccine for type 1 diabetes certainly seems farfetched today but don't count out the fact that in the future there may be such a vaccine.
A Stanford study was based on the concept a person's own immune system turns on the pancreas, destroying the organ's ability to make insulin. The twelve-week research project showed that a vaccine can cut down the number of immune cells that attack the pancreatic cells. The vaccine they used was made of DNA material similar to those in the pancreatic cells that were associated with making insulin.
Certainly it was not perfect, but it is a new concept that is going to be studied.
