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Cancer Drug May Treat Diabetes

Reviewed By: Louise Chang,

SOURCES: This Video is from the WebMD Video Archive. 2007 Medical Reference from Medstar Television. Mark Pescovitz, M.D., Immunologist, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN

© 1999-2011 Medstar Television

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Narrator:

Kelli Peterson isn't crazy about needles. The 11-year-old is putting on a brave face to help find a new treatment for diabetes.

Kelli Peterson, Patient:

It's supposed to, like, help my pancreas keep on making insulin.

Narrator:

Kelli has type one diabetes. It's an immune system disorder where white blood cells called t-cells attack the insulin-producing pancreas.

Mark Pescovitz, MD, Immunologist Indiana University School of Medicine:

What we're hoping to accomplish in these particular diseases, particularly in Type 1 diabetes, is to shut off the immune attack on the pancreas.

Narrator:

Now, for the first time, Indiana University Researchers are turning to a cancer drug to see if it can do the job.

Mark Pescovitz, MD, Immunologist Indiana University School of Medicine:

It is originally developed as a drug to kill lymphomas which is a type of B cell cancer.

Narrator:

The drug may also work on type-one diabetes because 'B' cells feed the 'T' cells that attack the pancreas.

Mark Pescovitz, MD, Immunologist Indiana University School of Medicine:

If the B cells aren't serving the T cells the food, they starve, they die and the immune reaction shuts off.

Narrator:

If the treatment works, it could help young patients like Kelli avoid long-term complications like vision loss, kidney damage and amputation.

Mark Pescovitz, MD, Immunologist Indiana University School of Medicine:

We're hoping is that we will get rid of the B cells that are causing the damage, new B cells will be developing that are not specifically targeting the pancreas and therefore induce what we call a state of tolerance.

Narrator:

It's possible patients could produce their own insulin and depend much less on insulin injections.

Sharon Peterson, Patient:

Boy, that would be a blessing, if that were the case.

Narrator:

To Kelli, it's a shot worth 'sticking' around for. For WebMD, I'm Sandee LaMotte.

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