www.irishexaminer.com
(http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/cwojojojgbey/)
Tablets replace diabetes injections for some children
Friday, January 17, 2014
Tablets are being used in place of multiple insulin injections by doctors in Ireland to
treat childhood diabetes.
By Evelyn Ring
Irish Examiner Reporter
The drug treatment has been developed by leading diabetes expert Lou Phillipson as a
personalised treatment for a specific genetic form of diabetes.
Prof Phillipson, director of University of Chicago Kovler Diabetes Center, is in Dublin to
address an international diabetes conference at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
today.
He said the discovery that diabetes occurring in the first six months of life was commonly
due to specific mutations affecting the insulin secreting cells in the pancreas had
revolutionised treatment of the condition.
Over the last five years, Prof Phillipson and his colleagues at the University of Chicago have
been able to identify specific gene abnormalities in some children, indicating that they might
not need insulin injections.
“With careful observation, we have been able to gradually reduce and eventually discontinue
the insulin treatment and instead replace it with tablets that control the sugar levels equally
well without the need for, or inconvenience of, multiple daily injections,” he said.
Prof Phillipson said the treatment was an excellent example of personalised medicine, with
the treatment based on a clear understanding of the cause of the condition in a patient.
“This truly spans the gap between the bench and bedside,” he said.
Other speakers will talk about how different tissues and the body’s inflammatory responses
can contribute to causing the most common form of diabetes: Type 2.
Today’s conference is the second annual 3U Partnership International Diabetes Conference
that brings together the academic strengths of Dublin City University, NUI Maynooth, and
RCSI to enhance education and research opportunities across the three partner institutions.
The 3U Diabetes Consortium of clinicians and scientists is committed to developing cutting
edge research into diabetes, a chronic and costly disease in Ireland.
Director of 3U Diabetes, Donal O’Gorman, said one of the major challenges in diabetes
research was bridging the gap between the lab and clinical practice.