Do insulin pills avert diabetes?
Big study seeks answer for Type 1
CHICAGO — For nearly a century, insulin has been a life-saving diabetes treatment. Now scientists are testing a tantalizing question: What if pills containing the same medicine patients inject every day also could prevent the disease?
Thirteen-year-old Hayden Murphy of Plainfield, Illinois, is helping researchers determine if the strategy works for Type 1 diabetes, the kind that is usually diagnosed in childhood. If it does, he might be able to avoid the lifetime of burdens facing his 5-year-old brother, Weston.
Hayden is among more than 400 children and adults participating in U.S. governmentfunded international research
investigating whether experimental insulin capsules can prevent or delay Type 1 diabetes. To enroll, participants first must get results of a blood test showing their chances of developing the disease are high.
“When I got the news, I was devastated,” Hayden said. He knows it means his life could change in an instant. So now Hayden swallows a small white capsule daily and has his blood checked periodically for signs of diabetes.
A small, preliminary study by different researchers, published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests the approach might work. Children who took insulin pills showed immune system changes that the researchers said might help prevent diabetes. The ongoing larger study is more rigorous, randomly assigning participants to get experimental insulin capsules or dummy pills, and should provide a clearer answer.
“Does it prevent indefinitely? Does it slow it down, does it delay diabetes? That also would be a pretty big win,” said Dr. Louis Philipson, a University of Chicago diabetes specialist involved in the study.
About 1.25 million Americans have Type 1 diabetes, and Type 2 disease affects nearly 30 million nationwide. Both types are increasing, and for Type 2, experts think that’s because of rising obesity and inactivity. But the upward trend in Type 1 diabetes, increasing worldwide by at least 3 percent each year, is perplexing.
In Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas stops making insulin, a blood sugar-regulating hormone that helps the body convert sugar in food into energy. Treatment is lifetime replacement insulin, usually via injections or a small pump. In Type 2, the body can’t make proper use of insulin. It sometimes can be treated with a healthy diet and exercise.
Genes are thought to increase risks for Type 1 diabetes. Viruses and other infections are among factors suggested as possible triggers for the disease.