The Herman Trend Alert
January 4, 2023
What Cancer and Diabetes Have in Common
I never thought about the fact that cancer and diabetes had anything in common. To me, they always seemed like they are very different diseases. So, what attribute do they share? In one of her videos, Dr. Denise Faustman talks about the fact that in Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), the immune system goes into overdrive and attacks the body. That is why the Diabetes is described as an "autoimmune disease." On the other hand, the immune system virtually ignores cancer cells; that is why they proliferate unhindered. Interesting, right? The Faustman Lab at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, has identified a key family of immune cells responsible for regulating the immune response.
Decades of Research
Back in 2014, I wrote about Faustman's promising breakthrough in T1D treatment, and perhaps reverse it altogether. At that time, Dr. Faustman at the Massachusetts General Hospital Immunobiology Lab was conducting research to develop a curative therapy for this autoimmune disease. At that time approximately 80 people per day were diagnosed with T1D. That was 15,000 adults and 15,000 children every year who were diagnosed. Now, the figure is even higher. At that time, Faustman was testing the efficacy of a century old vaccine Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), used for the prevention of tuberculosis, then (and now) testing it in the treatment and possible immune reversal of T1D.
Human Trials Proceed
Unfortunately, human trials take time. The good news is that the diverse clinical trials in both type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis, administration of the BCG vaccine to diseased adults has shown great promise. In a Phase I trial in advanced type 1 diabetes (mean duration of diabetes 15 years), 2 BCG vaccinations spaced 4 weeks apart selectively eliminated autoreactive regulatory T-cells, induced beneficial immune cells called Tregs, and allowed for a transient and small restoration of insulin production. The advancing global clinical trials using BCG combined with other data on BCGs induction of T-cells suggest value in this generic drug and possible immune reversal of the T1D autoimmune process.
An Update of Dr. Denise Faustman's Type 1 Diabetes Research
More recently. the Faustman Lab showed that BCG boosts a cytokine, an immune system protein called TNF, which is beneficial in autoimmune diseases by directly eliminating the autoreactive T-cells that attack the pancreas, as well as by inducing Tregs.
Cancer Research
In cancer, the immune system is tricked into not attacking the cancerous cells. The Faustman lab has identified a kind of regulatory immune cells essential to turning the immune system back on. This breakthrough has led to the generation of a new class of antibodies specific to the tumor immediate environment.
The Future of this Research
Once BCG is determined to work for T1D, Faustman intends to look at its application to other autoimmune diseases; already she has expanded her research to include Multiple Scleroses. My expectation is that these breakthroughs are only the beginning. We can hope that with advancing technology, the developments may come faster.
Next Week's Herman Trend Alert: Valid Research or Misinformation?
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