Researchers Use Novel Nanoparticle Vaccine to Cure Type 1 Diabetes in Mice

Researchers Use Novel Nanoparticle Vaccine to Cure Type 1 Diabetes in Mice

April 8, 2010 -- Using a sophisticated nanotechnology-based "vaccine," researchers were able to successfully cure mice with type 1 diabetes and slow the onset of the disease in mice at risk for the disease.  The study, co-funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, provides new and important insights into understanding how to stop the immune attack that causes type 1 diabetes, and could even have implications for other autoimmune diseases.

'Nanovaccine' reverses type 1 diabetes in mice

A new study, published online April 8 by Cell Press in the journal Immunity, describes a unique therapeutic "nanovaccine" that successfully reverses diabetes in a mouse model of the disease. In addition to providing new insight into diabetes, the research also reveals an aspect of the pathogenesis of the autoimmune response that may provide a therapeutic strategy for multiple autoimmune disorders.