Leukemia Drugs Put a Stop to Type 1 Diabetes in Mice

Well this is super exciting news!

“Two popular leukemia drugs, Gleevec and Sutent, kept lab mice from developing type 1 diabetes and put 80 percent of diabetic mice in remission, an international team said on Monday.”

The mice that went into remission happened after 8-10 weeks on the drug.

Can you imagine the potential for this? It could mean a cure is very close. But we’ve heard that several times over the last few years, so I won’t get (too) excited. Yet.

The article further quotes that, “The fact that the treated mice maintained normal blood glucose levels for some time after the drug treatment was stopped suggests that imatinib and sunitinib may be ‘reprogramming’ their immune systems in a permanent way.”

This makes a lot of sense to me, especially as someone who immediately had thyroid problems after my Type 1 diagnosis.

I know a real cure is probably a long way off, but this research but isn’t it a positive thing to hear about this type of research? It’s filled with such hope.