Very interesting article.  Thanks for posting this.  Sadly, back when
I was first diagnosed I had always thought that my chronic pain for
so many years had been what had done the number on my poor body.
Since that time, I've developed a total of 4 auto-immune diseases and
carry the HLA-B27 gene as well as the one for Type 1, which iirc is
HLA-D06/8.  Will be interesting to see what comes of this.. I'll definately
be keeping a close eye on this now.

RK.

Diabetes breakthrough
Toronto scientists cure disease in mice

Tom Blackwell
National Post

Friday, December 15, 2006

In a discovery that has stunned even those behind it, scientists at a
Toronto hospital say they have proof the body's nervous system helps
trigger diabetes, opening the door to a potential near-cure of the
disease that affects millions of Canadians.

Diabetic mice became healthy virtually overnight after researchers
injected a substance to counteract the effect of malfunctioning pain
neurons in the pancreas.

"I couldn't believe it," said Dr. Michael Salter, a pain expert at the
Hospital for Sick Children and one of the scientists. "Mice with
diabetes suddenly didn't have diabetes any more."

The researchers caution they have yet to confirm their findings in
people, but say they expect results from human studies within a year or
so. Any treatment that may emerge to help at least some patients would
likely be years away from hitting the market.

But the excitement of the team from Sick Kids, whose work is being
published today in the journal Cell, is almost palpable.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Dr. Hans Michael Dosch, an
immunologist at the hospital and a leader of the studies. "In my
career, this is unique."

Their conclusions upset conventional wisdom that Type 1 diabetes, the
most serious form of the illness that typically first appears in
childhood, was solely caused by auto-immune responses -- the body's
immune system turning on itself.

They also conclude that there are far more similarities than previously
thought between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, and that nerves likely play
a role in other chronic inflammatory conditions, such as asthma and
Crohn's disease.

The "paradigm-changing" study opens "a novel, exciting door to address
one of the diseases with large societal impact," said Dr. Christian
Stohler, a leading U.S. pain specialist and dean of dentistry at the
University of Maryland, who has reviewed the work.

"The treatment and diagnosis of neuropathic diseases is poised to take
a dramatic leap forward because of the impressive research."

About two million Canadians suffer from diabetes, 10% of them with Type
1, contributing to 41,000 deaths a year.

Insulin replacement therapy is the only treatment of Type 1, and cannot
prevent many of the side effects, from heart attacks to kidney failure.

In Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin to
shift glucose into the cells that need it. In Type 2 diabetes, the
insulin that is produced is not used effectively -- something called
insulin resistance -- also resulting in poor absorption of glucose.

The problems stem partly from inflammation -- and eventual death -- of
insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas.

Dr. Dosch had concluded in a 1999 paper that there were surprising
similarities between diabetes and multiple sclerosis, a central nervous
system disease. His interest was also piqued by the presence around the
insulin-producing islets of an "enormous" number of nerves, pain
neurons primarily used to signal the brain that tissue has been
damaged.

Suspecting a link between the nerves and diabetes, he and Dr. Salter
used an old experimental trick -- injecting capsaicin, the active
ingredient in hot chili peppers, to kill the pancreatic sensory nerves
in mice that had an equivalent of Type 1 diabetes.

"Then we had the biggest shock of our lives," Dr. Dosch said. Almost
immediately, the islets began producing insulin normally "It was a
shock ? really out of left field, because nothing in the literature was
saying anything about this."

It turns out the nerves secrete neuropeptides that are instrumental in
the proper functioning of the islets. Further study by the team, which
also involved the University of Calgary and the Jackson Laboratory in
Maine, found that the nerves in diabetic mice were releasing too little
of the neuropeptides, resulting in a "vicious cycle" of stress on the
islets.

So next they injected the neuropeptide "substance P" in the pancreases
of diabetic mice, a demanding task given the tiny size of the rodent
organs. The results were dramatic.

The islet inflammation cleared up and the diabetes was gone. Some have
remained in that state for as long as four months, with just one
injection.

They also discovered that their treatments curbed the insulin
resistance that is the hallmark of Type 2 diabetes, and that insulin
resistance is a major factor in Type 1 diabetes, suggesting the two
illnesses are quite similar.

While pain scientists have been receptive to the research,
immunologists have voiced skepticism at the idea of the nervous system
playing such a major role in the disease. Editors of Cell put the
Toronto researchers through vigorous review to prove the validity of
their conclusions, though an editorial in the publication gives a
positive review of the work.

"It will no doubt cause a great deal of consternation," said Dr. Salter
about his paper.

The researchers are now setting out to confirm that the connection
between sensory nerves and diabetes holds true in humans. If it does,
they will see if their treatments have the same effects on people as
they did on mice.

Nothing is for sure, but "there is a great deal of promise," Dr. Salter
said.

© National Post 2006

Copyright © 2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks
Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=a042812e-492c-4f07-8245-8a
598ab5d1bf&k=63970

This is incredible news.  And to think that the cure could be found in
ordinary chili peppers.  I would hope this would help propel the testing at
a faster rate than if the cure involved some exotic new molecule.

Paul

For those who are interested in the details the study was published in
Cell @ http://download.cell.com/pdfs/0092-8674/PIIS0092867406014656.pdf