PITTSBURGH — The doctor had barely pulled away the needle when a blister appeared on Tracey Berg-Fulton’s abdomen: An experimental shot was revving up the 24-year-old’s immune system — part of a bold quest to create a vaccine-like therapy for diabetes.
"If we’re right, that is what’s going to stop Type 1 diabetes,” said Dr. David Finegold as he watched the blisters appear.
It’s a big "if.” The research is in its infancy, a first-step experiment to be sure the vaccine approach is safe before researchers test their real target — kids newly diagnosed with this deadliest form of diabetes.
Scientists increasingly hope to control Type 1 diabetes by curbing the rogue immune cells that cause it, before patients become completely dependent on daily insulin injections to survive.
by the associated press
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