Cairns couple part of breakthrough type 1 diabetes research at Johns Hopkins
Cairns researchers at Johns Hopkins found a targeted antibody. It stops the autoimmune attack that causes type 1 diabetes.
Rafid Al-Hallaf and Zainab Agha moved to Cairns in 2013. They studied immunology at James Cook University.
They now work at Johns Hopkins University on a new approach to type 1 diabetes. The team targets the autoimmune attack that destroys insulin-making cells.
This is different from just replacing insulin. The discovery is an antibody not known before.
It is called x-mAb. It works like a guided missile to disarm only the rogue immune cells.
In a mouse trial, all 16 treated mice returned to normal blood sugar levels. None of the placebo mice went into remission.
The team must get FDA clearance before testing in humans.
- 134,000
- Australians with type 1 diabetes
- 16 out of 16
- Treated mice with normal blood sugar
- 0 out of 5
- Placebo mice in remission
- Journal of Immunology
- Research published in
Why it mattersAbout 134,000 Australians have type 1 diabetes. A targeted treatment could prevent infections caused by current drugs. These drugs block the whole immune system.
AustraliaThe breakthrough was led partly by Australians based in Cairns and offers hope for the thousands of Australians currently managing type 1 diabetes with insulin replacement alone.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 7 d ago
