Immunotherapy in type I diabetes. Approaches to prevention and treatment.
Considerable advances in the understanding of the immune basis of type I diabetes have encouraged trials of a number of forms of immunotherapy. Preliminary evidence indicates that cyclosporin (Sandimmune) treatment can halt beta cell destruction in about 50% of patients with newly diagnosed type I diabetes. Further studies are necessary to define the toxicity of this and other protocols prior to clinical use. Efforts to define the target antigen in type I diabetes may lead to development of more specific forms of immunotherapy or, possibly, a vaccine.
D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003524:Cyclosporins / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D007330:Insulin Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D007668:Kidney / Q000187:drug effects
D001323:Autoantibodies; D003524:Cyclosporins; D007330:Insulin Antibodies; C024211:islet cell antibody