New insights into halting type 1 diabetes

Abstract

During the past four decades, several studies have attempted to identify ways in which to halt the type 1 diabetes disease process to preserve β-cell function. For the most part, the results have been disappointing, with interventions either having no effect or having a transient beneficial effect.1–2 In The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, Stephen E Gitelman and colleagues published a randomised phase 2 trial on imatinib therapy for patients with recent-onset type 1 diabetes.3 Similar to previous studies, they observed a transient effect, in that it met the primary endpoint at 12 months (a significant mean difference in 2-h C-peptide response at 12 months for imatinib vs placebo), but the effect was not sustained up to 24 months.