Year: 2012
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: The new millennium has brought continued hope for a 'cure' with major developments in immunology and understanding of pathogenesis of diabetes and its complications.Intervention studies to slow the progression of beta-cell destruction by using insulin to induce immune tolerance have shown promise in some subsection analysis but without overall benefit for primary outcome.The ongoing INIT 11 study delivers insulin nasally.The TRIGR study eliminates cow milk in babies at risk with promising effect for antibody generation.Stem cells also offer promise.Islet cell transplantation from cadavers is minimally invasive and has shown great promise, but has been slowed due to lack of donors and immunosuppression needs.For those with established diabetes, randomised controlled trials have demonstrated minimising and slowing of progression of diabetes vascular complications.These interventions include intensive glycaemic treatment, blood pressure lowering and lipid lowering agents.Good randomised controlled clinical trials provide the best evidence of these benefits, which must then be followed by more research to better understand mechanisms of disease pathogenesis and treatment effects.The elusive cure for diabetes is a dream of many individuals and their families who live with diabetes.Increasing numbers of children are now diagnosed with diabetes, with the prevalence in Australia recently reported to be one in 724 children aged less than 15 years, and one in 391 adolescents aged ten to 14 years [1].Much clinical research is making this dream closer to delivery.Family members are enrolling in natural history and clinical intervention trials to help understand, delay and hopefully stop the disease.Research to cure diabetes is now multipronged.A number of studies have focused on predicting risk, which then has allowed development of studies to intervene in the
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1502777197