In December 2006, The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada (SickKids) researchers found that mice injected with capsaicin -- the chemical that makes chili peppers hot -- were rapidly cured of Type 1 diabetes. Now with widespread credence following their discovery, SickKids has partnered with Approach Therapeutics to accelerate the human clinical trials for this cure.

Researchers discovered that Type 1 diabetes is caused by malfunctioning pain nerves surrounding islets. These nerves mistakenly tell the brain that the islets are inflamed and the body creates insulin autoantibodies to destroy them. The researchers injected capsaicin, also known as "substance P", to kill the pancreatic pain nerves. Researchers observed that the injected mice's islet cells began producing insulin normally almost immediately. The nerve cells secrete neuropeptides that tell the islets to release insulin. The nerves weren't secreting enough neuropeptides, causing inflammation resulting in insulin autoantibodies that caused Type 1 diabetes. The researchers also found that the treatments helped curb the insulin resistance that causes Type 2 diabetes.

Thanks to SickKids and Approach Therapeutics for the promising news. Looks like the cure for diabetes could come from a land where universal healthcare lives.

DiabeCell has successfully been transplanted into the first type I diabetes patient. This trial is testing its efficacy and safety in controlling the dangerous blood glucose levels to prevent long-term secondary complications of type I diabetes.

Living Cell Technologies has announced the successful transplant into the first of six type I (insulin dependent) diabetic patients in a world-first human clinical trial using DiabeCell. Patients in the trial will receive two low doses of the pig islet cells every six months over a 12 month period, followed by a further 12 month study, evaluating the benefits. Recipients in this first trial are given the lowest clinically effective dose to demonstrate safety. The dosing is repeated for additional clinical benefit. The company hopes to commercialize the product for general use by 2012.

DiabeCell is a pig pancreatic islet cell product that secretes insulin in response to the patient's blood glucose levels. People with type I diabetes are not able to produce their own insulin because their pancreas cells are not functioning. DiabeCell has been uniquely developed with a gel that forms a tiny capsule around the cells. This prevents the patient's immune system from destroying the transplant and does not require immunosuppressive drugs. Think of DiabeCell as bubble wrap for islets -- cool, right?

A study suggests problems with cholesterol regulation in the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas may be responsible for the development of Type 2 diabetes.

A thesis paper written by a graduate student, Dr. Liam Brunham, addressed the fact that a dysfunction in cholesterol regulation is found in beta cells in the pancreas. A thought-provoking connection to this thesis was the fact that beta cells are the cells responsible for producing insulin. A beta cell expert decided to see what would happen if researchers genetically engineered mice without the ABCA1 gene. The ABCA1 gene is the gene responsible for cholesterol regulation in beta cells. Dr. Brunham appears to be the first to identify the role of cholesterol dysfunction resulting in the beta cells inability to properly secrete insulin.

This new research is promising and obviously raises questions in other researcher's minds. One is - what happens when amylin, a hormone produced by the beta cells, builds up to excess amounts? Does this, in fact, impair the beta cells' ability to function properly? Could this be another thesis that trumps Dr. Brunham's hunch for the cause of type 2 diabetes? Some researchers believe that the over-production of amylin and cholesterol may be due to a yet unidentified problem. Of course that is always an option. Science labs across the world could come to a screeching halt if doctor's stopped hypothesizing. As research continues, we will anxiously await the next best thesis paper, courtesy of our promising Graduate Students. Be cool - stay in school!