Interferon Can Delay Juvenile Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes, also know as juvenile diabetes, can be a very difficult disease to manage. Children and young people with the disease face a lifetime of monitoring of their blood sugar levels and the food they eat. Some Type 1 patients have difficulty staying on top of the disease, and some begin, quite understandably, to resent the constant need to be vigilant with their bodies while their peers eat anything they want whenever they want.

Any treatment that could delay the full onset of the disease is, therefore, of enormous importance. A new study out of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston has shown that a low dose of interferon alpha can slow progress of the disease.

The results of the Phase II study appear in Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association.

"It shows a strong trend in preserving insulin-producing beta cell function that is significantly better than placebo," said Staley Brod, M.D., principal investigator, in a statement. "It can extend the 'honeymoon phase' of the disease, allowing the body to still produce insulin from beta cells, which correlates with decreased complication rates."

The study subjects who took the lowest dose of interferon alpha "lost only 29 percent of their beta cell function compared to 48 percent for patients receiving 30,000 units and 56 percent for patients receiving the placebo."

These findings may point the way forward to better treatments for young people with the disease. Phase III trails are in planning stages.