Jennifer Gagne, a scientist at Endsulin, is working on developing specialized DNA for use in gene therapy for type 1 diabetes at Forward Biolabs in Madison. The experimental therapy aims to prevent people with type 1 diabetes from having to inject insulin every day.
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
“We have to find something that is simple, that doesn’t cost a lot, and that doesn’t require major surgery,” said Sollinger. “If we control just a little bit better (glucose) with a simple injection, if we just make life a little easier (for diabetics), we’ll be fine.”
More than 30 million Americans have diabetes. Approximately 1.25 million have type 1 diabetes, which is where the body stops producing insulin and has to take insulin to survive. The rest have type 2 diabetes, where insulin cannot be used properly. Some need to take insulin to prevent complications such as kidney disease, nerve damage, and loss of vision.
Insulin, released by the pancreas, helps convert glucose or blood sugar into energy and store glucose in the cells.
Endsulin’s experimental gene therapy involves a DNA chain containing insulin and a Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation patented “Glucose Inducible Response Element” (GIRE). The DNA is packaged and delivered to the liver by the adeno-associated virus AAV8, which is not known to cause disease, where it is supposed to stimulate cells to produce insulin.
The liver doesn’t normally produce insulin, but can do so when prompted and regenerate, Sollinger said. In people with type 1 diabetes, the islet cells in the pancreas that produce insulin are believed to be destroyed by an autoimmune reaction.
