New Discoveries on Long-term Insulin Production in Type 1 Diabetes and Their Implications for Future Trials in Preventing Complications and Reversing the Disease
LONDON, September 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Data to be presented at European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Congress 2014
Traditional doctrine holds that insulin production in people with type 1 diabetes ceases as soon as one year after diagnosis. However, new ultrasensitive blood assays have demonstrated that many people with type 1 diabetes produce insulin at low levels for decades after diagnosis.
The clinical consequences of low-level insulin production were previously unknown, but two studies being presented at this week's EASD Congress expand on previous data. The first, led by Professor Timothy McDonald of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, shows that the majority of patients with long-duration type 1 diabetes still secrete insulin (as measured by C-peptide secretion) and have detectable C-peptide in their urine and blood. The other, led by Professor Denise Faustman of Massachusetts General Hospital, demonstrates that extremely low levels of C-peptide appear to have clinical significance and may be helpful in defining groups of long-duration diabetics who are most at risk of complications or poor metabolic control.
These data may support the rationale for clinical trials that seek to reverse longstanding type 1 diabetes, thereby opening up clinical trial participation from just newly-diagnosed patients to the entire type 1 population.
Professors Faustman and McDonald will be presenting their data at EASD 2014:
Denise Faustman, MD, PhD
Director of Immunobiology, Massachusetts General Hospital; Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; and Chair of the BCG and Autoimmunity Working Group
Wednesday 17th September 2014
11:15-11:30
Timothy McDonald, PhD, FRCPath
Principal Clinical Scientist and NIHR CSO Fellow, Blood Sciences, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital
Wednesday 17th September 2014
14:15-15:15
For more information, or to arrange to meet Professors Faustman and McDonald, please contact:
Russell LaMontagne
russell.lamontagne@porternovelli.com
+1-917-744-7957
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