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Groundbreaking results of a new Israeli clinical study reveal that type 1 diabetes can be treated effectively and safely with Alpha1-Antitrypsin (AAT), an anti-inflammatory protein that our body normally generates when we’re sick.

“While looking for drugs to cure diabetes, we sought a different path from available and experimental treatments — one that tackled the problem, not merely the symptom of dangerously high glucose levels,” prominent immunology researcher Eli Lewis of Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev tells ISRAEL21c.

He did the study in collaboration with the University of Colorado’s Health Science Center, funded by Omni Bio. Type 1 diabetes (also called juvenile diabetes) is characterized by difficulty regulating blood-sugar levels because the hormone insulin – responsible for distributing glucose to the body’s cells for energy — either isn’t produced or does not get distributed because of an abnormal autoimmune response.

To understand the “different path” Lewis speaks of, one needs to understand that an adult pancreas has approximately a million clusters of 3,000 to 4,000 hormone-producing cells called islets of Langerhans. The predominant type of cell in these islets is the beta cell, which senses when sugar is elevated in the blood and releases insulin to remove glucose from the blood into the peripheral tissues that then store it or break it down and convert it into energy.

When the immune system mistakes beta cells for “enemies” attacking the body, it destroys them. When two-thirds of the islets are destroyed, the body no longer produces sufficient amounts of insulin. This is called type 1 autoimmune diabetes, and requires frequent checking of glucose levels and calculated doses of injected insulin. Even with treatment, too-high glucose levels are common.

Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, is primarily metabolism-related and does not involve the immune system attacking islets.

According to Lewis: “In 2002-3, one particularly exciting new treatment being tested for type 1 diabetes was islet transplantation. And though the results were impressive – removing patients’ need for insulin injections altogether with perfectly normal blood glucose throughout their day — there was a key problem with it. To prevent the immune system from attacking any transplant, steroids were administered. But steroids damage islets and are therefore contraindicated in this procedure.”

Lewis and his team decided to look for another “safe and available” way to address inflammation, while protecting islets from immune response and focusing on approaches safe for children.