This article reviews several projects that investigate the use of vaccines against T1 diabetes:
Scientists Are Creating Vaccines For Type 1 Diabetes
Nothing earthshaking—interesting nonetheless. At least one of them is in Stage III trials.
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Hi @Michel! Long time no hear! Glad you are doing well!
From the article, “The main treatment options include a low-carb and low-sugar diet accompanied by daily insulin injections.”
…uhh…not? lol. Some go low-carb, but low-carb is not a “treatment” in my mind…it’s an option/choice, but definitely not necessary or mandated for good control. Reading the rest of the article, but that line just jumped out at me. lol
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Hi, Michel, That was an interesting read. This research may come up with vaccines or what was that word, inverse, that can selectively turn off specific immune cells from targeting other body systems. I am thinking of Lupus, RA, psoriasis, other autoimmune diseases perhaps even HIV. That last is a stretch, but who knows.
At 71, I may not live to see it, but I’m hopeful. There is more than enough suffering in this world.
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I think all science reporters should have their work checked over by real experts. I saw that and coming at the beginning of the article is enough to make one dismiss the rest. However, the rest was better. It would’ve been best if that little factoid was omitted.
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The description of potential treatments is interesting, but the numerous errors in paragraphs 3 and 4 about the disease itself—
It is particularly offensive that they spread the typical falsehood about type 2, essentially blaming the disease on those who contract it. That is so wrong, and so damaging.
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Good to see you back posting @Michel. Hope things are going well for you.
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Yeah, to echo what others have already said, the article itself has all the appearances of having been written by someone walking through a minefield. Each paragraph has it’s own peculiar explosion prompting the appropriate cringing on my part.
Yet the article (not, I suspect, the point of your post 
) does have some merit; the author is trying, hard (as opposed to “very”).
The guts, beyond the introductory stuff that most likely none of us should read first, is fascinating. A vaccine to prevent an autoimmune disorder, rather than causing it!
Some of the stuff documented seems to be after-the-fact; reduce the immune response after it first manifests. I don’t see anything there, though, that suggest the response can be stopped after it has started. So I regard those things as palliative; extending the honeymoon period. That may have merit, or may not; depends on how you learned to swim.
The other two entries, however, seem very interesting (single-peptide vaccinations and the same with adjuvants (cf Fiasp, when niacin is used as an adjuvant to promote skin adsorption of subcutaneously injected insulin)).
A vaccine for everyone that would train the immune system to avoid attacking beta cells; misdirection, but in a good way?
I’m lucky; my parents were rich and I am too, but diabetes is hell; a continuous fight every day and every night, sleeping and waking. A vaccine to avoid that would be amazing.
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I tend to skim over the summary articles and go straight to the original publication - bit of drama on the article related to DiaPep277 (the single peptide vaccine mentioned):
On behalf of the authors identified below, the corresponding author has formally requested to retract the above-cited article. An accompanying article (1) has also been retracted.
On 8 September 2014, Hyperion Therapeutics, Inc., which acquired Andromeda Biotech in June 2014, announced that it had chosen to terminate the DiaPep277 program. As stated in the press release issued by Hyperion Therapeutics, “The company has uncovered evidence that certain employees of Andromeda Biotech, Ltd. … engaged in serious misconduct, including collusion with a third-party biostatistics firm in Israel to improperly receive un-blinded DIA-AID 1 trial data and to use such data in order to manipulate the analyses to obtain a favorable result”
On 7 October 2014, Hyperion Therapeutics and Clal Biotechnology announced that they had agreed to suspend legal proceedings and to engage an independent third party to analyze data from both the recent clinical trial, upon which this article was based, and the current phase 3 clinical trial, which will be completed at the end of this year. We further expect the participation of an independent third party approved by the authors. Following disclosure of the results of such independent analysis of both completed studies, we will issue a follow-up statement.
The results shown for the phase III trial that was completed in 2016 also don’t look like something they were likely to have been particularly pleased with… didn’t hit statistical significance for any of their measured outcomes, some of them very far off, slightly increased rate of serious adverse events (6.36% vs. 4.20% on placebo).
The literature available for the Diamyd vaccines was far less dramatic of a read but it is worth noting that their data for the GAD65 vaccine (which is the one mentioned in the article) was shown to primarily only be effective in individuals who had a particular HLA type (that is to say - they have a particular version of the gene responsible for HLA molecules, which are very important in how your immune system operates - all down to what your parents gave ya). The haplotype in question being HLA-DR3-DQ2. They make a big point in their discussion section to discuss how the genetic/immunological heterogeneity of type 1 diabetes greatly complicates vaccine/cure development efforts, which I am quite sure is true but unfortunate 
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At this moment, you are my God.
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As someone that has sunk many hours into playing The Sims, I can assure you that I’m a benevolent God about 65% of the time 
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The Low carb, low insulin sounds like the technique used by Dr. Richard Bernstein. That certainly is not related to a ‘Vaccine’.