heparan sulfate by Simeonovic at The Australian National University

Quotes:

Scientists suggest that either boosting pancreatic islet levels of heparan sulfate (HS) or administering an inhibitor of the heparanase enzyme that is responsible for its breakdown could provide a new approach to preventing development or slowing progression of type 1 diabetes. A team at The Australian National University’s John Curtin School of Medical Research initially showed that HS is expressed at very high levels in the mouse islet and is essential for β-cell survival.

Charmaine J. Simeonovic, M.D., and colleagues, report their findings in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, in a paper titled “Heparan sulfate and heparanase play key roles in mouse β cell survival and autoimmune diabetes.”

Critically, treating prediabetic female MOD mice using PI-88, at an age when they were expected to exhibit both NDI and DI, significantly slowed the development of T1D by 10 weeks. By age 36 weeks, the number of diabetic mice among the PI-88 cohort was just half that of the control group.

http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/researchers-find-approach-to-hold-type-1-diabetes-back/81246103/

Encapsulated Beta Cells by Nuvilex at SG Austria

Quote from the press release:

Nuvilex, Inc.announced today their affiliate SG Austria and partners have successfully treated diabetes in an established, recognized animal model utilizing live encapsulated cells.

The introduced cells responded to elevated blood sugar levels by producing insulin, alleviating the symptoms of diabetes. Moreover, encapsulated cells remained viable and responsive for many months.

Press release: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nuvilex-and-sg-austria-introduce-revolutionary-treatment-for-diabetes-utilizing-live-cell-encapsulation-technology-2011-12-06

Pig to Rat Embryonic Transplant by Hammerman at Washington University School of Medicine

Press Release: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-pig-primate-transplants-diabetes.html

Note that the 15-Nov-2011 date refers to experiments on Monkeys that did not lead to a cure, but this press release also referred to previous experiments on rats that did lead to a cure for them.  Since I didn't have the rat cure before, I'm counting this as the rat cure.

Quotes:

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis transplanted clusters of embryonic pig cells destined to become insulin-producing islet cells into three diabetic rhesus macaques. The macaques “adopted” the pig cells as their own, without the need for powerful immune suppression drugs to prevent rejection, the researchers report in the current issue of Organogenesis.

The new study builds on earlier research in rats, reported by the same group last year in the American Journal of Pathology. In that study, the researchers used the same two-step approach to cure diabetes in rats. Unlike the macaques, rats that received both embryonic cell and islet cell transplants from the pigs could produce enough insulin to adequately control their blood sugar.

Glyphosine by Michels at Barbara Davis Centre for Childhood Diabetes

A specific molecule that can prevent the development of type 1 diabetes in mice has a similar effect on human cells from diabetic patients, according to researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22043012
http://news.bioscholar.com/2011/11/promising-new-compound-to-prevent-type-1-diabetes-identified.html

GABA by Prud’homme at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto

News coverage: http://fftimes.com/node/243716

Quotes:

A natural chemical generated by the same cells that produce insulin in the pancreas has been found to not only prevent Type 1 diabetes in mice but reverse the condition, according to a new study.
Dr. Qinghua Wang and Dr. Gerald Prud’homme of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto led a team of international researchers in the study. Findings were published yesterday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.