Cytokine is a protein that stimulates or inhibits the proliferation or function of immune cells. By inserting a gene encoding of this protein with the use of state-of-the-art gene therapy techniques, was able to successfully prevent the onset of elevated blood sugar, or hyperglycemia, in diabetes-prone mice.

These findings by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh were presented at the recent American Society of Gene Therapy Annual Meeting in Baltimore.
Such findings carry significant implications for the prevention of type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes (formerly known as juvenile diabetes) usually diagnosed at a very early age (but is sometimes not diagnosed until the individual reaches adulthood), is an autoimmune disorder in which the body errantly attacks the cells of the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, causing chronic hyperglycemia and complications such as blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and nerve damage.

In this study, the Pitt researchers used a gene-delivery vehicle known as an adeno-associated virus to insert genes for either of two cytokines, interleukin-4 (IL-4) or interleukin-10 (IL-10), into the insulin-producing beta cells of non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice. Following gene delivery, expression of IL-4 in beta cells prevented the onset of hyperglycemia in NOD mice, whereas beta cell expression of IL-10 accelerated the onset of hyperglycemia.

According to lead author Khaleel Rehman Khaja, Ph.D., senior research associate, department of molecular genetics and biochemistry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, results from this animal study suggest that gene therapy is a viable method for preventing the onset of type 1 diabetes in genetically at-risk people.

Read more at EurekAlert.