In the months following diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, the pancreas still makes some insulin, but only for a short period of time. A daily oral dose of the protein interferon alpha helped children and young people with newly diagnosed type 1 preserve their remaining insulin-producing beta cells better than people taking a placebo. Interferon alpha, which is produced by the body to help combat viruses, is believed to slow or stop the dysfunctional immune system’s attack on insulin production. While all study participants continued to take insulin, those on interferon alpha lost only 29 percent of their beta cell function over the course of a year compared with a 56 percent loss in the placebo takers. Further studies will be needed to confirm these results and assess interferon alpha’s potential.
Source: Diabetes Care, July 2009