Finnish Team Makes Diabetes Vaccine Breakthrough

jones_supa writes "A team working at Tampere University, Finland has discovered the virus that causes type 1 diabetes. The enterovirus penetrates the pancreas and destroys insulin-producing cells, eventually causing diabetes. Researchers have looked at more than a hundred different strains of the virus and pinpointed five that could cause diabetes. They believe they could produce a vaccine against those strains. One virus type has been identified to carry the biggest risk. A vaccine could also protect against its close relatives, to give the best possible effect. A similar enterovirus causes polio, which has been almost eradicated in many parts of the world thanks to vaccination programmes. A prototype diabetes vaccine has already been produced and tested on animals. Taking the vaccine through a clinical trial would cost some 700 million euros. Some funding is in place from the United States and from Europe, but more is required. Professor Heikki Hyöty says that money is the biggest obstacle in moving to testing in humans, but he sees that people are interested in their research and that the funding problems will ultimately be solved."

Not much info

[Okian Warrior]

I nodded this in the firehose because it looked interesting.

There's not much information in the linked article. Can anyone give us more info? Anyone who reads Finnish care to comment on the source - is it reliable, are the researchers legitimate?

And i might see it in my lifetime.

[Anonymous Coward]

But i wouldn't bet on it.

Diabetic treatment and supplies are a multi-billion dollars a year industry.
You think they're going to give that up?
Nope. They're going to spend a few million and throw up so many regulatory and availability roadblocks to prevent the loss of their ever increasing income.

What was the last billion dollar industry that let itself go obsolete?
That just doesn't happen anymore. Not when you can buy the law.

Re:And i might see it in my lifetime.

[maroberts]

What was the last billion dollar industry that let itself go obsolete?

Slave trading.

It didn't go obselete, it just implemented a different business model.

Re:Type 1 v Type 2 diabetes

[mpe]

It is worth noting this is for type 1 diabetes, not type 2 which is the modern plague resulting largely from bad diet and inactivity. That said, if you know somebody for whom diabetes is a lifelong affliction since childhood, and kids who need shots for diabetes, that's type 1.

Genetics appears to be a strong factor in ALL forms of diabetes.
As for "bad diet" this may well be the low fat, but very high glucose, diet pushed as "healthy" since the late 1970's (in the US). Given that diabetes is the inability to effectivly handle dietary glucose.

Re:Not much info

[Joining Yet Again]

The great thing about the C++ Hello World example is that it simultaneously shows everything that's nice and everything that's horrible about C++.

Re: And i might see it in my lifetime.

[Anonymous Coward]

Type 1 versus Type 2 is the difference between a missing leg, and serious arthritis. There are 20 times as many Type 2 diabetics, but most cases of Type 2 can be treated by lifestyle changes and maybe oral medication. Type 1 is...., well, for me, it's limited career choices and lifestyle. I've probably been knocked out hypoglycemic episodes 300 times or so in my life: that has to have caused some intellectual damage. I've got notable kidney, eye, and skin damage, though I'm doing pretty good for a 45 year Type 1. Don't get me *started* on what it does to your sex life to need your blood sugar low enough to be amorous, and high enough to prevent hypoglycemia and impotence during good sex. Those regions don't overlap anymore!!!

Sorry, I had to rant. Anyway, the result is that the consequences are so profound that the smaller numbers of Type 1 diabetics get a much, much larger than 5% share of the research. It's so much more profound, so much more dangerous, and so much more *expensive* to treat that it justifies the investment. The treatment costs really add up, with one dollar each test strips, $3/day insulin costs, infusion sets for insulin pumps, doctor visits for eyes and kidneys and feet and skin, etc., etc. that it makes sense to invest more heavily in it.

Re:Not much info

[Andy Dodd]

Thing is: The virus doesn't directly cause much damage to the pancreas. The theory here is that it causes the immune system to start attacking the pancreas (maybe due to similar antigens between beta cells and the virus???)

Tuning the immune system to more aggressively attack the virus might instead cause Type I diabetes here...