On Tuesday, December 14th, 2004, it was announced that 72 patients will go to Bristol University in the U.K. this August to be injected with a protein that could help prevent them from getting Type 1 Diabetes, forever.

The goal: To help stop the body from destroying insulin-producing cells. Human testing of a new vaccine that has been developed in the U.K. may accomplish just that.

Currently people with Type 1 Diabetes, the most serious form of the disease, need daily injections of synthetic insulin because the pancreas is no longer able to produce its own insulin.

Type 1 Diabetes, formerly known as juvenile or early onset diabetes, is an autoimmune disease in which the body's own immune system destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.

Diabetes is believed to result from a genetic predisposition triggered by an unknown environmental factor that causes the immune system to attack its own tissues.

Dr. Colin Dayan

Dr. Colin Dayan, a Bristol University consultant senior lecturer in medicine and one of the team leaders on the project, said he hopes the vaccine will have the same effect on humans as it has on mice.

CODE RED: "Research & Enterprise Development" at Bristol

Trials from Bristol University and King's College's research with mice have already proved successful.

As a result, the researchers behind the "Code Red" study have been given the go-ahead to begin human clinical trials. Tests of the vaccine, which has been developed over the last 10 years, are set to start next August.

These first human trials of a vaccine against Type 1 Diabetes were described as "very exciting" by one of the lead researchers. That would be both an understatement and a humble judgement call.

In fact, this discovery could mark the most significant advance since insulin by prescription arrived in the 1920s.

Prior to the 1920s, if someone was diagnosed with Diabetes, they were virtually given a death sentence.

Without insulin injections their blood sugar would become dangerously high and they would eventually, inevitably die.

Even with today's insulin injections, those who have the disease and do not properly take care of themselves, are still at risk of going blind or losing a limb.

At a conference at Stanford University last year, scientists stated that people with Diabetes today should expect a 15-20 year shorter lifespan than those without the disease.

Professor Mark Peakman of King's College London said, "It is very exciting that we are now taking this work forward into patients."

Preventing or Delaying The Onset of Type 1 Diabetes

"The early trials will tell us whether the vaccine is safe. We will then proceed to look at its effect on patients who have just developed diabetes, and see whether the disease process can be halted.

"Following this, it would be logical to test the vaccine in individuals at risk of diabetes, to see whether prevention is possible," Professor Peakman said.

But the researcher added: "These trials take some years to complete, so it may be five to 10 years before we see real progress."

Five or ten years is nothing for an infant or toddler who has recently been diagnosed as both of my daughters were at the age of four.

Co-researcher Professor Mark Peakman, from Kings College London, said several treatment approaches might need to be combined to combat such a complex disease as Diabetes.

If the scientists are successful this summer, they will recruit more volunteers with the help of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

The vaccine trial is jointly funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International and the Diabetes Vaccine Development Centre in Melbourne, Australia.

Had my daughters received this protein before they were told they had the disease, perhaps at least my older daughter would still be producing her own insulin today. Then again, with no history of the disease in our family and no marker that alerted us to their pre-disposition, their "cure" prior to diagnosis would have been unlikely.

However, what a God send this could be for those with Diabetes already in their family or for those still going through the "honeymoon stage" where the body is still producing small amounts of insulin, naturally.

Dr. Dayan from the University of Bristol, said:

It will be of help for people who have just been diagnosed.

If it proves to be very safe, we would think about using it in people who are at high risk of developing Type 1 Diabetes.

Thank you to the New York-based Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF.org) and the Diabetes Vaccine Development Centre in Melbourne, Australia (DVDC.org.au).

Congratulations and thank you, Bristol University, King's College in London, and all those involved in this exciting advancement.

Inspire & Be Inspired (R).

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, and "twenty-years-longer" living!

~ Jennifer Carolyn King