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Long-term Cure For Type 1 Diabetes??

One key thing to note is that it is a US based study.
Because TB isn’t common in the U.S., children here do not receive the vaccine.
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In the UK, I had the BCG vaccination; I think that this is still common?

Ah! https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/bcg-tb-vaccine-questions-answers/.
The BCG is no longer offered to children in secondary schools in the UK. It was replaced in 2005 with a targeted programme for babies, children and young adults at higher risk of TB.
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also
The BCG vaccination is thought to protect up to 80% of people for up to 15 years.
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which makes me wonder why adults don't/didn't get a booster. I was done as a teenager at school (assume aged 15) so I should have had a booster at 30 and 45 to maintain my immunity if the vaccine only lasts 15 years.

However prior to 2005 there must have been T1s in the UK who had the BCG vaccination without being cured of diabetes, although I also note that
While it took three years for patients to see results from the vaccine, two doses of the drug spaced four weeks apart were still having a lasting impact eight years later.
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so even if there was a response nobody would have tied it in with a vaccination taken 3 years ago.

If I was cynical I might think that this research was part of trying BCG on everything from piles to ingrowing toenails to the common cold because widespread use seems to be eliminating TB from many countries which are then stopping mass vaccinations. An indication that the vaccination is so good that it is destroying not only TB but its own market.

Still, if this is anywhere near accurate then it could be a big result for T1s and presumably also for at least some T2s.
 
Thanks for posting this and it does look hopeful. To note that this is a small study but is in humans not mice and is to be expanded. The article mentions work in Italy and Australia with reference to other autoimmune diseases such as MS and food allergy. Both these countries use bcg so I am guessing the treatment is hypothesised to work even if the patients have been exposed to the TB virus via vaccination.
I am a type 1 and did get a bcg 3 years into my diagnosis. Not cured but totally up for a life with less endogenous insulin. BTW it bugs me that whilst I share the opinion that type 2 diabetes drugs represent huge profit vehicles for big pharma, it was a big pharma/biotech firm that genetically engineered the insulin I take today. A good thing when you think of the thousands of pigs whose pancreases would need to be mashed to produce what the world needs today.
 
http://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2018/06/21/vaccine-diabetes-bcg-type-1

Well, according to the above, there were just 9 people in the study, and they are not talking about stopping insulin, just better HbA1C results.... (That's how I'm reading the article, maybe I've misunderstood, happy to be corrected...:))

I think it's a bit of a quacker.

Though I had the BCG vaccine in my early teens, maybe that's the reason I'm (relatively) complication free now????
 
I got BCG at 15 at school in UK, then again a year ago when I was teaching in Italy at the age of 28- doctor came into the school and teachers needed to go up for the vaccine. I have actually been wondering if this triggered my diabetes (type 1) I was diagnosed this Feb but was getting symptoms after the vaccine such as infections etc..

Any thoughts on it triggering and not curing?
 
EllieM said:
And here's an example on why "small" studies should be treated with concern. (A journalist deliberately designed the study knowing he could "prove" chocolate was good for you to demonstrate how he could get flawed science published and believed by the press.)

http://io9.com/i-fooled-millions-into-thinking-chocolate-helps-weight-1707251800

It's a wonderful read, highly recommended.
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"Testing bitter chocolate as a dietary supplement was his idea. When I asked him why, Frank said it was a favorite of the “whole food” fanatics. “Bitter chocolate tastes bad, therefore it must be good for you,” he said. “It’s like a religion.”" :hilarious::hilarious: So true.
 
The reports of a 'cure' are overenthusiastic since it showed a large reduction in Hba1c, whilst continuing insulin therapy. Denise Faustman is not a quack though (that was an unhelpful comment) Her research has been going on, stage by stage for many years .(there are several posts on here about it, going back many years)
The latest report seems to be based on 52 subjects. The Telegraph article includes positive comments on the methodology.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science...erse-type-1-diabetes-almost-undetectable/amp/
For some background : a video from 10 years ago.
See also.https://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/...eversal-trial-seeks-more-participants-383495/

This report includes some data from the recent results https://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/breaking-research-bcg-vaccine-reduces-a1c-long-term-579539/
 
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phoenix said:
Denise Faustman is not a quack though (that was an unhelpful comment)
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OK, that's fair enough. I think I got irritated by articles claiming that it reversed T1, instead of being a potentially useful aid. And that's the journalists' fault because it makes a better headline. Actually, I think the journalists are quacking.

I still don't understand why the two articles give different figures for the number of people in the study....
 
Let's be clear what the original study states. It is that those treated with a specific form of BCG in the trials had much lower Hba1Cs. They were not producing more insulin, and a c-peptide test showed that they were not producing c-peptide.

The mechanism seems to be that the T-Reg white blood cells had changed their energy characteristics to use more glucose and therefore remove more from the body.

All of the participants in the study continued to use existing technologies including CGMs and pumps, so no insulin was stopped as a result of this therapy.

All in all it's an indicator of a potential amelioration at this stage, and still a long way from a "cure".
 
In fact, the researchers determined that the BCG vaccine does not restore insulin production in the subjects, as measured by C-peptide levels. This stands in contrast to their previous research in mouse models that demonstrated increased insulin secretion in the BCG-treated animals. The vaccine does not appear to decrease insulin resistance either.
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Darn - lost my original in a botched edit.
Still, the above really says it all.

Changes to some cellular metabolic pathways increase the uptake of glucose which seems to make T1 BG control using conventional methods more effective.
 
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