A major finding, which represents an important step toward a potential cure for type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes, has been made by a research team at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology (LIAI). The team, led by Matthias von Herrath, M.D., an internationally recognized expert on the molecular basis of type 1 diabetes, used a combinatorial treatment approach in laboratory mice and found it reversed recent onset type 1 diabetes in the majority of animals tested.
The study, which combined two therapies (anti-CD3 antibody and proinsulin peptide) already being tested individually in human clinical trials, produced better efficacy, longer-lasting results and fewer side effects in the preclinical trials in mice than either therapy has shown alone in the human studies. The researchers hope to begin testing the combination therapy in human clinical trials later this year. Damien Bresson, a researcher in Dr. von Herrath's lab, contributed to the study. Kevan Herold, an Associate professor at Columbia University, and Jeffrey Bluestone, Director of the University of California, San Francisco Diabetes Center, were also contributors.
"The finding of increased efficacy of reversal of recent-onset type 1 diabetes in animals that received a combination of systemic anti-CD3 antibody and intranasal proinsulin peptide compared to therapy with the antibody alone is an exciting and important finding," said Richard A. Insel, M.D., Executive Vice President for Research at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
The anti-CD3 antibody has been shown to temporarily reverse recent onset human type 1 diabetes in two independent clinical trials. The reversal was maintained for more than a year. "This combination approach is worth evaluating in human type 1 diabetes to increase both the overall efficacy of the treatment and the duration of the beneficial effect," Dr. Insel said.
The finding was published today in the online version of the Journal of Clinical Investigation in a paper, "A novel combination therapy in recent onset autoimmune diabetes: synergy of anti-CD3 and nasal proinsulin to induce Tregs." Dr. von Herrath said the human clinical trials, which still require regulatory approval, would be directed at persons recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes or who are already being treated for pre-diabetes.
George Eisenbarth, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Director of the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes in Colorado, called the finding "a very important discovery, demonstrating synergistic efficacy of two therapies (anti-CD3 and proinsulin immunomodulation) that are in human studies for the prevention of type 1 diabetes."