Andalusian researchers present their lines of work to people with diabetes and their families
Scientists from the Progreso y Salud Foundation, the Virgen Macarena Hospital, the Puerta del Mar Hospital and the Biobanco are developing a project aimed at finding a therapeutic alternative for this disease.
Researchers from the Progreso y Salud Foundation, the Virgen Macarena Hospital in Seville, the Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia and the Puerta del Mar Hospital in Cádiz will present their joint line of research within the framework of the II National DiabetesCERO Congress.
The event, which will take place tomorrow and Sunday in the Auditorium of the Health Technology Park of the University of Granada, will bring together around 400 people including health professionals, researchers, the university community and patients and relatives. In this context, the main works that are currently being carried out throughout the country in the field of type 1 diabetes will be announced, one of the most common chronic diseases in childhood and which is estimated to be suffered by between 5 and 10 % of people who have diabetes.
Specifically, Benoit Gauthier, a scientist from the Progreso y Salud Foundation who carries out his work in Cabimer, will explain what his research consists of, a study that he is developing in collaboration with the rest of the entities of the health system mentioned above. Currently, this joint work aims to validate the therapeutic efficacy of a molecule - discovered and patented by the researchers themselves - in blood samples; an assumption that has already given positive results in experimental models of the disease.
The work is being developed by a multidisciplinary and collaborative team created to facilitate the translation of the basic research carried out by the scientists of the Progreso y Salud Foundation in their laboratory to the clinical application in human tissue and blood samples, first, and in clinical trials in patients, ultimately.
A molecule “that is giving good results”
The molecule under study, called BL001, has already been tested and evaluated in 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," he explains. Dr. Gauthier.
The studies carried out to date have shown that BL001 promotes the conversion of alpha cells - which are producers of the hormone glucagon - (a hormone that raises blood glucose and promotes hyperglycemia) to pancreatic beta cells, responsible for synthesizing , store and secrete insulin (a hormone that controls blood glucose levels).
Furthermore, they have confirmed that this molecule is capable of reversing the autoimmune attack of type 1 diabetes. It has been shown that this molecule promotes the anti-inflammatory capacity of certain cells of the immune system (specifically T-Regulatory lymphocytes, M2 macrophages and TH2 lymphocytes) preventing the immune system itself destroys beta cells, which is what happens in the body when you suffer from type 1 diabetes.
Scientists will now check whether what happens in experimental and cellular models is also repeated in blood samples from both people with diabetes and healthy individuals. In fact, preliminary results suggest that human immune cells respond favorably to treatment.
Joining efforts to cure type 1 diabetes
This work is a multidisciplinary project in which other professionals also participate, such as María Asunción Martínez Brocca, head of the Endocrinology and Nutrition Unit at the Virgen Macarena University Hospital and director of the Andalusian Diabetes Plan; María Isabel García Sánchez, from the Seville Provincial Node of the Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia; and Manuel Aguilar Diosdado, head of the Endocrinology and Nutrition Unit of the Puerta del Mar Hospital and scientific director of the Biomedical Research and Innovation Institute of Cádiz, Inibica.
The study also has the support of different institutions such as the Ministry of Health and Families; the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), a pioneering non-profit foundation worldwide; or the DiabetesCERO Foundation, made up mainly of fathers and mothers of children with type 1 diabetes and with a presence in 15 points in the national territory.