The decrease in IL-1st levels could alert the appearance of type 1 diabetes in children
American scientists will begin a three-year study to check this hypothesis and investigate whether IL-1 inhibitors can prevent disease.
The decrease in blood levels of a protein that helps control inflammation could be an alert signal to the possibility that a child is developing type 1 diabetes, according to researchers from the Health Sciences University Georgia University (GHSU).
Sharad Purohit, biochemistry of the Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine of the GHSU, and Jin-Xiong, director of the same, observed the blood levels of the antagonist protein of the interleuquina-1 (IL-1ra) receptor in children thatThey were being closely followed because their genes put them at risk of developing type 1 diabetes.
They also analyzed diabetic mice to which IL-1st lacked to find out how it affects the shortage of this protein to the immune function and the destruction of the islets of beta cells insulin producers.
IL-1st protein helps reduce inflammation and preliminary results of this research suggests that its presence at low levels predicts an increase in inflammation and that the immune system prepares an attack against insulin producing cells.
This hypothesis will be proven in the blood of about 2,500 children, as well as in diabetic mice, in a study that will last three years and will have about $ 500,000 from the Youth Research Foundation in Diabetes.
IL-1 inhibitors are already used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.Various clinical trials on type 1 diabetes are underway with the aim of checking if an inhibitor can stop the destruction of pancreatic islets.
Although it is already known that inhibitors can improve the results of type 1 diabetes, GHSU scientists want to find out if they can also be used to prevent it, as Jin-Xiong pointed out.
