Life With Dogs posted an article about how researchers in Barcelona have cured dogs of type 1 diabetes. The cure was found through gene therapy treatment. The dogs were injected with viruses that carry genes for both insulin and glucokinase. Those genes then integrated into the dogs’ DNA allowing the dogs' body to regulate its' own blood sugar, curing the dog of diabetes. Four years have past since they cured the dogs and the dogs have continued to have no signs of diabetes. This is a great discovery but there is still a lot of research to be done because dogs do not get the same type of diabetes as humans so the diabetes was induced by the researchers, by chemically destorying the dogs beta cells that produce insulin. It is possible that there may have been some cell function still left behind, where in humans the immune system destroys all the beta cells that produce insulin. Therefore the same gene therapy may not work on humans. I do believe this is a huge step in the right direction though and will eventually lead to a cure in humans.
The article:
http://www.lifewithdogs.tv/2013/02/type-1-diabetes-cured-in-dogs/Another article from Barcelona:
http://www.uab.es/servlet/Satellite/latest-news/news-detail/uab-researchers-cure-type-1-diabetes-in-dogs-1096476786473.html?noticiaid=1345652365690[caption id="attachment_7591" align="alignnone" width="350" caption="Researchers and two of the dogs cured of type 1 diabetes"]
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Although people with type 1 diabetes can monitor their glucose levels and live normal lives, they still have to deal with being diabetic. I think that a cure for diabetes in dogs is excellent news, because it means that we are one step closer to curing humans. The more we learn about genetics, the more genetic diseases we can cure. This also has to do with personalized medicine, because each patient will be treated with what is best according to their genes.
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