"Type 1 diabetes is the autoimmune form of the disease, affecting about five percent of diabetics. It usually emerges in childhood and occurs when the body's immune system attacks insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. "

"Now, a three-drug regimen that not only stops the destruction of beta cells but also preserves the function of cells that receive and metabolize insulin has eliminated type 1 diabetes in laboratory mice, said lead researcher Maria Koulmanda, director of nonhuman primate research at the Transplant Research Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston."

""We stopped the progression of automimmunity. The animals could become normoglycemic," meaning they had normal levels of blood sugar, Koulmanda said."

"Another major discovery is that inflammation appears to play a major role in type 1 diabetes, she added. In fact, one drug used in the treatment regimen reduced the inflammation of cells that metabolize insulin."

"Another drug successfully reduced the autoimmune destruction of beta cells, but that was not the key to reversing the disease, she said. Instead, success was linked to blocking inflammatory processes that impair cells' responses to insulin."

" to insulin's effects -- a common phenomenon seen in much more common, adult-onset, obesity-linked type 2 diabetes, Koulmanda said. "This is the first time anyone has seen insulin-resistant cells in type 1 diabetes," she noted."

"A course of treatment lasting less
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