A patient NGO donates 100,000 euros to type 1 Diabetes research
Scientists from the Progreso y Salud Foundation, the Macarena Hospital, the Puerta del Mar Hospital and the SSPA Biobank are looking for a treatment for this disease.
Researchers from the Progreso y Salud Foundation, a public entity of the Ministry of Health and Families, have received funding from the DiabetesCERO Foundation, an NGO formed by parents of children who suffer from type 1 diabetes, and whose objective is to raise funds and invest them in scientific development to cure this disease.
The research group, led by Benoit Gauthier, a scientist with a long career in the study of diabetes who carries out his work in Cabimer, has received the amount of 100,000 euros to promote its work and continue developing a project in which professionals from other centers linked to the public health of Andalusia, such as the Macarena Hospital, the Puerta del Mar Hospital and the Biobank of the Andalusian Public Health System (SSPA).
The study, which now renews the financial support of Diabetes CERO, focuses on validating the antidiabetic efficacy of a molecule called BL001, which is patented by the research group itself. Currently, this molecule is being tested and evaluated in preclinical experimental models (mice) and in human cells and "it is giving good results, which is why it is conceived as a potential treatment against type 1 diabetes," explains Gauthier.
Type 1 diabetes affects approximately between 5% and 10% of people with diabetes and although it can be diagnosed at any age, it is one of the most common chronic diseases in childhood and there is still no solid therapy for it. fight it.
Stop the autoimmune attack of type 1 diabetes
The studies that have been carried out have shown that BL001 has a dual effect, on the one hand favoring the regeneration of the mass of pancreatic beta cells that is lost during the evolution of diabetes and, on the other, attenuating the immune attack on the beta cells. that characterizes type 1 diabetes. BL001 is capable of promoting the transdifferentiation of alpha cells into pancreatic beta cells. That is, it promotes the conversion of alpha cells, which produce glucagon (a hormone that raises blood glucose and promotes hyperglycemia) to beta cells, responsible for synthesizing, storing and secreting insulin (a hormone that controls blood glucose levels). the blood).
This cellular transdifferentiation favors the regeneration of the mass of pancreatic beta cells necessary for adequate control of blood glucose levels. In addition to this regenerative effect, BL001 is capable of acting directly on immune cells, reversing the autoimmune attack that occurs in type 1 diabetes, thus attenuating the loss of pancreatic beta cells.
COLLABORATION WITH CLINICAL PROFESSIONALS
Gauthier's research group is delving deeper into these studies with the aim of transferring this knowledge to a clinical study with patients. In this sense, they have the support of health professionals and clinical researchers from the Endocrinology and Nutrition Unit of the Puerta del Mar University Hospital (Cádiz); and the Endocrinology and Nutrition Unit of the Virgen Macarena University Hospital (Seville), led by Dr. María Asunción Martínez Brocca, director of the Andalusian Diabetes Plan, a clinical reference of recognized prestige in the field of diabetes.
Professionals from the Seville Provincial Node of the Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia also participate in this work, with María Isabel García Sánchez as technical coordinator.
Given the relevance of the research "and the good results we are obtaining," as Gauthier explains, they have the support of different institutions such as the Ministry of Health and Families itself; the State Research Agency (Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness); the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), a pioneering non-profit foundation worldwide; and the NGO Diabetes ZERO Foundation.