The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and Selecta Biosciences, Inc. announced today that they have established a research collaboration to support Selecta's development of a vaccine technology, which may subsequently help to better treat and potentially prevent type 1 diabetes.
Through the research partnership, JDRF will provide milestone-based financial support and expertise, with the goal of applying Selecta's vaccine technology toward the development of vaccines for type 1 diabetes.
Selecta's vaccine technology would ultimately be applied to create a therapeutic that would halt or prevent the autoimmune response that causes type 1 diabetes. Known as antigen-specific tolerogenic vaccines, these vaccines are designed to specifically stop the autoimmune response that causes the disease without damaging the immune cells that provide protection against infection. Antigen-specific therapies have shown promise to date in animal models of type 1 diabetes.
In addition to their potential in preventing type 1 diabetes, tolerogenic diabetes vaccines could have other benefits. For example, they could be used in conjunction with other therapies to preserve remaining beta cell function in individuals recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. This type of vaccine could also help with regeneration and replacement therapies, and be used to protect newly regenerated or transplanted insulin-producing beta cells in established type 1 diabetes. In addition, this class of vaccines may also have applicability for other autoimmune diseases.
"Type 1 diabetes affects individuals of all ages, and the rate of incidence has increased dramatically in the past two decades. This marked increase, especially in children between the ages of one to five years old, has made the need for preventing type 1 diabetes all the more urgent," said Richard Insel, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer of JDRF.
"We believe vaccine research is one of the most promising approaches to prevent or halt the beta cell-specific autoimmunity in type 1 diabetes. And we are excited to be teaming up with Selecta to support the development of this next-generation of vaccine technology," added Insel.