Could a sugar molecule help protect insulin-producing cells in type 1 diabetes?

There are times when cancer research overlaps with autoimmune research; for example, CAR T-cell therapy—a form of treatment used to fight cancer—has recently been used to treat patients with autoimmune diseases. Along those lines, the Mayo Clinic has achieved a scientific breakthrough in its research on cancer cells, which may lead to advancements in treating type 1 diabetes.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have identified a sugar molecule, sialic acid, that cancer cells use as a "coating" to evade detection by the immune system. Years earlier, Dr. Virginia Shapiro's team had found an enzyme that increased the sugar coating on the surface of tumor cells to make them appear as if they were not foreign entities, ultimately allowing them to bypass the immune system's defense mechanism. After this discovery, Dr. Shapiro wondered if this same enzyme could protect normal cells from an abnormal immune response.

* * *

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks its pancreatic beta cells, which produce insulin. It is estimated to affect 1.3 million people in the United States. To test her hypothesis on type 1 diabetes, Dr. Shapiro and her team used artificially induced models of diabetes and engineered beta cells in the models to produce the enzyme that increased the sugar coating. After doing so, they found that the engineered cells were 90% effective in preventing the development of type 1 diabetes. In other words, the beta cells that were usually destroyed by the immune system were preserved with the enzyme that increases the sugar coating.

Moreover, they discovered that while the sugar coating protected the pancreatic beta cells from immune attacks, other aspects of the immune system remained intact, with active B and T cell activities against other disease processes. Thus, the enzyme provided "local and quite specific protection against type 1 diabetes" by specifically protecting the beta cells from an autoimmune response. Although this research is still in the early stages, Dr. Shapiro and her team hope to provide transplantable cells as a form of therapy for patients in the future.

To support the Autoimmune Registry, please share our information with others who have autoimmune diseases. Donations are also greatly appreciated!