The main international entity in the fight against type 1 diabetes renews its commitment to Andalusian research
The 'Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation' has once again awarded the research project of Benoit Gauthier, a scientist at the Progreso y Salud Foundation, with which he seeks a therapeutic solution to this disease
The main international association to fight type 1 diabetes, JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), has renewed for the third time its support for the research carried out by scientists from the Public Health System of Andalusia.
Specifically, this non-profit entity has granted 750,000 euros to the research project coordinated by Benoit Gauthier, a scientist at the Progreso y Salud Foundation who carries out his work in Cabimer. Their study 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.
The studies being carried out by scientists have shown that BL001 has a dual effect in preclinical models, 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 hand, attenuating the immune attack on beta cells that characterizes type 1 diabetes. Additionally, the group recently demonstrated the effectiveness of BL001 in blocking the pro-inflammatory characteristic of human immune cells isolated from people with type 1 diabetes.
The research focuses on evaluating the impact of BL001, as well as a second-generation molecule, in an in vitro type 1 diabetes model that recreates the mechanism of the disease. This project is led by Nadia Cobo Vuilleumier, a researcher on Gauthier's team, and is carried out in collaboration with the research group of Decio Eizirik, scientist at the Center for Diabetes Research at the Free University of Brussels.
It is the third time that the JDRF endorses the investigation led by Gauthier, to which it has already granted a total of 1.7 million euros. This financing is added to others from entities such as the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs itself; the State Research Agency (Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness); and the DiabetesCERO Foundation, a non-profit organization twinned with the JDRF that has supported Gauthier's candidacy in this process.
Collaboration with international clinical and scientific professionals
This research group from the Progreso y Salud Foundation is delving deeper into this field with the aim of transferring knowledge to a clinical study with patients. In this sense, they also have the support of professionals from other centers linked to public health in Andalusia, such as María Asunción Martínez Brocca, head of the Endocrinology and Nutrition Unit at the Virgen Macarena University Hospital and director of the Health Plan. Diabetes of Andalusia; and María Isabel García Sánchez, from the Seville Provincial Node of the Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia.
International collaboration in this project, led by the Eizirik team, will allow the development of human islet organoids derived from induced pluripotent stem cells.