A large clinical study is now beginning on an approved drug for treating psoriasis. The drug will be tested on patients who were recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. The theory is that the drug could preserve the patient’s remaining insulin production.
A large number of hospitals throughout Sweden are participating in this large project, which is funded by the Swedish Research Council within clinical treatment research. The project is headed by Marcus Lind, a professor of diabetology at the University of Gothenburg and chief physician responsible for clinical diabetes research at Sahlgrenska University Hospital/Östra Hospital and NU-hospital Group.
The drug to be tested affects the immune response in the body by inhibiting the protein interleukin-17, which seems to be an important signaling molecule in the process that destroys beta cells. For the last few years, the drug has been used as a treatment for psoriasis, where a specific type of white blood cells, known as TRM cells, plays a key role in the development of the disease, just as these cells seem to do in type 1 diabetes. Among other things, these cells act through IL-17, which the current treatment affects.
Recruitment of individuals with type 1 diabetes for a comprehensive multicenter study has now begun. The study will include adults, between ages 18 and 35, who have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the last three months, where a blood test has shown that they have an ongoing immunological process affecting the beta cells. A total of 127 individuals will be included, with half being randomly assigned to receive IL-17 inhibitors and half receiving a placebo in the control group.
