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Within the framework of the XXI National Congress of the Spanish Society of Diabetes (SED) held this weekend in Barcelona, there has been a new Nanovacuna in Development for specific immunomodulation through autoantigens, as the therapeutic strategy in Diabetes Mellitus Type 1.Objective of this new Naovacuna is to stop the destructive process of the beta cell and thus preserve the insulin reserve.
In Spain, it is estimated that between 6 and 10 percent of the population is diabetic, although half of them are without diagnosing, according to data from the Spanish Diabetes Society (SED).In the last 10 years its incidence has increased by 30 percent.Type 1 diabetes (DM1) is the one that is determined by genetic factors and affects about 120,000 people in Spain.
According to Dr. Pere Santamaría, director of the team of researchers at the University of Calgary in Alberta (Canada) and researcher of this new therapeutic strategy, 'The Nanovacuna consists of small balls, nanoparticles, an infinitely lower size than a cell.The particles are decorated with proteins that attack the pancreas cells that produce diabetes.What these particles do, then, is to stop the progression of aggression. '
'Nanovacunas could be defined as intelligent proteins that kill the general that produces diabetes,' explains the director of the New Nanovacuna team.'Thanks to the vaccine, the immune system acquires a memory that there is an attack, in this case that of diabetes, and hence its effect against it.We are not creating anything new, we are simply taking advantage of a mechanism that already works in nature, 'says Dr. Santamaría.
This new vaccine, based on nanotechnology, would be indicated for patients who genetically have a predisposition to diabetes, and for patients who have been diagnosed recently, and in which there is still a pancreatic reserve.
According to Dr. Santamaría, 'this vaccine could also serve for the treatment of other autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, or other chronic diseases'.
Another of the possible applications of this vaccine would be after a transplant.Although the nanovacunas are hope for diabetic patients who have been with the disease for many years, says Dr. Santamaría, 'since the objective of the vaccine is not only to stop the immune attack, but also the possibility of regenerating cellsthat have already been affected. '
