The demands and expectations exceed current results, especially for those who live with a chronic condition such as diabetes.Finding the cure is a pending chapter, expected by millions.
Science continues with more open pages than answers.Some have lost faith, they have tired of waiting, others passively do believe that this great moment will come and others, without losing perseverance, continue to support the work of scientists.
The Research Institute (DRI) diabetes, based on Miami, Florida, was created 40 years ago for a reason: to find the cure of diabetes.Some criticize their work, others support it.Some do not financially collaborate with efforts, others do the impossible to contribute the necessary funds for medical studies.
Behind these realities, there is a multidisciplinary team, dedicated to research in its different facets.It is made up of professionals, who come from various parts of the world, of different philosophies, creeds, all united, for a common work, which keeps aware people waiting for the cure.
For Dr. Dora Berman-Weinberg, an Argentine scientist, a resident of Miami, her day-to-day work goes beyond locking up in a world of tests and experiments in a laboratory.She motivates her the belief that saying "tomorrow" is not enough promise for those who currently live with diabetes, as he told Huffpost Voices.
Berman-Weinberg is one of the members of a team, which allows to encrypt hopes in an institute that worldwide promotes its commitment to the cause and needs the support of philanthropists to carry out their projects."The coexistence with people living with type 1 diabetes in the DRI, including colleagues, relatives of colleagues, and visitors, who include both children and adults, constitute my daily inspiration in the search for a cure."
Huffpost Voces spoke with the Argentine scientist to see how much progress has been made in research, the challenges faced and what the future can hold in scientific terms in relation to a biological cure for the condition.
Dr. Dora Berman.Photo: Dri
- What is the current work of the DRI in the search for a cure for diabetes?
-Our Institute has all the necessary components for the translation of a cure, that is, to be able to apply in humans the results found after carrying out in vitro experiments or in pre-clinical models.In order to make this translation, close collaboration between basic sciences, preclinical studies and clinical studies are needed.The collaboration and fertilization of these three branches is vital to find the cure.The DRI has a multidisciplinary team of researchers that are part of these three components.We have researchers dedicated to applied basic sciences, studying from cellular insulin producing cells - which are the beta cells found in pancreatic islets - to cells affected by diabetes, and try to understand and repair the basic mechanisms affected.
We also have studies focused on finding alternate sources of insulin producing cells, including the use of stem cells from various sources.We are also studying optimal conditions to cultivate, expand and maintain alive pancreatic islets or other insulin producing cells, which are very sensitive cells.Any finding at that basic level is tested, first at the preclinical level, which is the first step in the production of the experiments, and finally the clinical component that is in charge of the last step of the translation.
At the clinical level, there are studies to try to prevent and stop the development of the attack suffered by insulin producing cells indiabetic patients and there are also pancreatic islet transplants in diabetic patients, but immuno-suppressor drugs are still needed to prevent rejection.
Currently the islet transplants are carried out in the liver, which is not the ideal place, and recently we obtained authorization from the FDA to carry out pilot studies, transplating pancreatic islets in an alternative place to the liver.
- Are there patients who successfully benefit from these transplants?
–The answer is yes.These studies have been doing for several years, but they are still considered experimental in the United States, it means that if a patient is transplanted, it also requires immuno-surge drugs, which are necessary to avoid rejection of transplantation and that they are usually not coveredfor medical insurance.
- Who are the patients who are chosen?
Photo: Shuttersock
Currently islet transplants are performed in the liver of patients with diabetes.Photo: Shuttersock
- They are patients who meet certain requirements, who cannot regulate their glucose levels through exogenous insulin, patients who cannot perceive when they are about to fall into a low glucose, then requirements must be met to participate in these transplants.Many patients have benefited.The ideal is to be able to perform transplants in the absence of immuno-supressing drugs.When a tissue transplant is made, normally the tissue donor is different, it has other immulological markers than the container.
The patient detects that the tissue is not yours, attacks and rejects it.To avoid the rejection of transplanted cells and organs, it is necessaryvirus or a bacteria.
- You have been working for years in search of a cure.What have been the obstacles that still do not allow to reach that expected moment?
–We are dealing with a very complex disease that has genetic, immunological and environmental components.It is not that we have a bacterium that occurs an antibiotic and the disease can be cured.Here it is not only to replace the affected cells, but also to obtain an abundant source of insulin producing cells to be able to transplant without the use of immuno-suppressive drugs.Rejection of tissue should be avoided by transplanting and avoiding the recurrence of the disease.
The subject is very complex.The translation of animal studies has countless regulations that are valid to protect patients.Everything is a complex, expensive process that requires significant investment.We have the privilege of having a foundation, which unconditionally supports our work, and that gives important support for all research tasks and we also compete nationally, international for research subsidies.
–Are efforts the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and the DRI at work to get a cure?
–Al Dri are granted competitive subsidies that come from different agencies such as the National Institute of Health (NIH), the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the state of Florida, the JDRF, among others.We are a multicultural institute and we are constantly receiving visitors from Latin America, Europe and Asia.