Immunological manipulation for diabetes
In type 1 Diabetes (T1D), the immune system goes awry and destroys the insulin producing cells of the pancreatic islets. Thus, insulin must be replaced by injections every few hours. Although life-saving, this treatment does not control blood sugar well enough to prevent serious complications including kidney, eye and heart failure. Such diabetic complications can be prevented by islet transplantation; unfortunately, this requires the use of dangerous immunosuppressive drugs for the transplant to be accepted. This severely limits its use.
The Lew Laboratory is investigating a strategy to reduce the need for systemic immunosuppression. The basis of our research is that transplanted islets can protect themselves from immunological attack if they are provided the means to make their own immunosuppressive molecules. The T cells of the immune system are a central control point in initiating transplant destruction. Thus, we use transgenic technology or adenoviral vectors to engineer islet transplants to secrete immunomodulatory molecues that will deplete T cells or prevent their activation. As these immunomodulatory molecules are produced at the transplant site, their actions are restricted to the local environment.