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- Protein wards off organ rejection in monkeys
In research published in Nature Medicine, scientists at the Naval Medical Research Center reported monkeys given injections of a protein after receiving kidney transplants effectively avoided any organ rejection for the first year of the ongoing study.
Of nine monkeys in the experiment, eight are alive and well with no sign of organ rejection after one year. The ninth monkey died of unrelated causes. The protein, called hu5C8, differs from standard treatments to prevent organ rejection in that it does not suppress the immune system, which has the unfortunate side effect of leaving patients vulnerable to infections. Rather, the protein works by inhibiting blood cells from alerting the immune system about the transplanted tissue.
-Suppressing protein found to prevent diabetes in mice
Researchers reported in Science a few weeks ago that blocking a single protein in mice effectively prevented the onset of type I diabetes. The mice were specifically bred to have diabetes, but suppressing a protein called glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) prevented almost all of the mice from developing the disease.
Type-I diabetes afflicts about 14 million people worldwide and occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys the cells that produce insulin. People with Type-I diabetes required daily insulin injections to survive. Blocking the GAD protein in mice stopped them from producing the T-cells that normally attack the insulin-producing cells.
Although it's a huge step from mice specifically bred to develop diabetes to stopping the disease in human beings, the research does provide important clues to developing future treatments for Type-I diabetes in human beings.
Sources:
Organ rejection shows promise in monkey studies. Malcolm Ritter, Associated Press, May 31, 1999.
Diabetes Mystery Solved? Reuters, May 14, 1999.