Andalusian researchers lead a consortium created to study and stop type 1 diabetes

The working group, whose first meeting was held virtually, is made up of health professionals, scientists and patient representatives.

Researchers from the Progreso y Salud Foundation, an entity dependent on the Ministry of Health and Families, have created a consortium to study type 1 diabetes and offer therapeutic alternatives to this disease that is estimated to affect around 50,000 people in Andalusia.

This working group, led by the scientist Benoit Gauthier - who carries out his activity in Cabimer - includes health professionals from the Puerta del Mar (Cádiz) and Virgen Macarena (Seville) hospitals; scientists from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (Barcelona); the SSPA Biobank, and the DiabetesCERO Foundation, composed mainly of fathers and mothers of children with type 1 diabetes and with a presence in 17 points of the national territory.

This consortium was born within the framework of a research project by Dr. Gauthier that has funding from the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), a pioneering non-profit foundation worldwide that promotes the development of research. that can open new avenues for the treatment of this pathology and improve the quality of life of those who suffer from it.

In this sense, the work focuses on analyzing the effects of the BL001 molecule on the immune cells of patients with type 1 diabetes and their ability to promote the regeneration of insulin-producing beta cells. This molecule, discovered and patented by Dr. Gauthier's own research group, has given good results in previous preclinical studies and is conceived as a potential treatment for type 1 diabetes.

Waiting for positive results

The importance of this project, which also has funding from the DiabetesCERO Foundation, lies in the fact that the effectiveness of BL001 will be tested in human cells, favoring its translation into clinical practice if the positive results that scientists hope to obtain are evident. “We want to see – the researchers explain – if the modulation of immune cells induced by BL001 as observed in mice also occurs in human cells and if the presence of these modified cells also favors the transformation of alpha pancreatic cells into beta pancreatic cells. ; In addition, we will then evaluate the functionality of these new beta cells that are obtained.” The results of the first year of work are positive and indicate the potential of the drug as an immunomodulator in two cell types of the immune system of patients with type 1 diabetes.

To try to achieve results as soon as possible, this consortium has been created in which the participation of different approaches to the disease: scientific, clinical and the patient's own, allows for the sharing of knowledge and a global dimension of type 1 diabetes.

During the last five years, type 1 diabetes has had a very high incidence in Andalusia, being one of the regions with the most people affected in all of Spain. It is estimated that about 2,500 people who suffer from this disease are under 15 years of age.