Word: treatment
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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However incomplete, the emerging understanding of the immune system's role in Type 1 diabetes has led to an experimental treatment. In Canada and Europe, researchers have weaned diabetics from their insulin shots after giving them cyclosporine, a drug used in organ transplants to suppress the immune system. Doses of cyclosporine, which works by dampening T-cell attacks on the beta cells, have provided dramatic results: many patients have been able to discontinue their insulin shots for up to a year. Still, by undermining the entire immune system, cyclosporine leaves the diabetic more vulnerable to other diseases. And when given...
...attempt to find a more selective treatment for Type 1 diabetes, researchers are trying to figure out exactly why the immune system attacks the beta cells. Last October a Stanford University team discovered errant forms of a gene that controls the development and growth of the culprit T cells. The team's conjecture: in Type 1 diabetics, this gene produces a protein badge that differs slightly from the norm in structure, causing the immune system to attack the beta cells. Eventually, the group hopes to find a way to neutralize the harmful effects of the molecule and thus eliminate...
...outlook in both kidneys and livers, and that enthusiasm quickly spread to the heart." Cyclosporine is highly toxic, however, and researchers have begun to look for alternatives. Ideally, they foresee a therapy that would prevent rejection but also persuade the immune system to tolerate a transplanted organ even after treatment is halted...
...promising approach is the use of interleukin-2, one of the proteins called lymphokines, which are produced by the immune system. IL-2 is now being administered in various ways to stimulate the white blood cells that attack tumors. Expensive -- upwards of $80,000 for one course of treatment -- and dangerous, IL-2 is usually reserved for patients with advanced cancer. Amy Hance, 25, of Bloomington, Ill., reached that stage early this year. Melanoma, a deadly skin cancer, had spread to her liver, spleen, stomach and lungs. The determined Hance opted for experimental IL-2 therapy, even though side effects...
...back into a vein, along with IL-2. Her temperature shot up, and severe nausea set in. "I never think of the symptoms as bad, because I know there's this big fight going on in there," says Hance. Her bold gamble paid off: after 4 1/2 weeks of treatment, her tumors had shrunk...