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Leukemia Drugs Cure Mouse Diabetes

Common cancer treatment sent disease into rapid remission

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 18, 2008 5:37 AM CST

(Newser) – Two common leukemia drugs prevented or halted mouse diabetes in a new study, Reuters reports. The drugs prevented mice predisposed to Type 1 diabetes from developing the disease, and sent 80% of mice who already had it into remission within weeks. Scientists say the mice maintained normal blood sugar levels even after treatment finished, suggesting the drugs may have somehow reprogrammed their immune systems.

The drugs appeared to defeat the autoimmune disease by blocking a receptor not previously linked to diabetes. The findings could offer hope to the estimated 1 million to 2 million Americans with Type 1 diabetes and sufferers of other autoimmune diseases if the results can be replicated in humans—always a big if, warned the authors of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Leukemia drugs Gleevec and Sutent sent 80% of mice with Type 1 diabetes into remission. (©ReneS)

A Type 1 diabetes sufferer wears an insulin pump. Type 1 diabetes, caused by the destruction of insulin-producing cells, affects 5 to 10% of the 20 million Americans with diabetes. (AP Photo/Medtronics Daibetes)

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This study opens up a new area of research in the field of type 1 diabetes, and importantly, opens up exciting opportunities for developing new therapies to treat this disease and other autoimmune diseases. - Arthur Weiss of the University of California

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Leukemia Drugs Cure Mouse Diabetes