What were the findings of the Faustman lab in relation to a therapy for type 1 diabetes?
In 2001 1 and in 2003 2, the results of the Faustman lab’s experiments in end-stage diabetic mice were published. The results showed that a brief, 40-day treatment selectively eliminated the disease-causing white blood cells in mice. This treatment killed only the cells that were causing the autoimmune destruction, and not the healthy cells. These experiments also uncovered the ability of the pancreatic islets to regenerate without the introduction of any live cells once the autoimmune destruction was stopped. The Science paper also identified a new source of adult stem cells- adult stem cells in the spleen- that could form new islets in the formerly diabetic animals. The lab has also shown that humans with type 1 diabetes have disease-causing T cells that are similar to those found in diabetic mice3. Based on this finding, they hypothesized that using a therapeutic approach in humans similar to the approach that reversed diabetes in mice might be effective. A human clinical trial prog
