IT MIGHT be possible to block the development of insulin-dependent diabetes in children, sparing them from a lifetime of injections and the many health complications the disease causes. Hopes have been raised by a drug that halts the onset of diabetes in mice.
Around 3 in every 1000 people worldwide suffer from insulin-dependent diabetes, caused by the immune system attacking the insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas. Sufferers need daily insulin injections. In sub-Saharan Africa, many children with the disease die. A handful of people have been cured by islet-cell transplants based on the “Edmonton protocol”, but this means a…
