#DR ROBIN GOLAND SKIN#
#DR ROBIN GOLAND TRIAL#

The format of the meeting was a discussion featuring six panelists. Naomi Berrie is a leading diabetes research center and clinical care provider which boasts over 50 investigators.

Highlights of that meeting are presented in this report. This comparison might allow for improved screening of people for future TUDCA studies by being better able to predict who will have a positive response to the drug.įor more information or to support JDRF’s restoration program, please click here.Yesterday, the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University hosted a research panel discussion in New York City. For example, the cells could be used to generate cells that resemble beta cells in the lab, and the response of a patient’s lab-generated cells could be compared to their results from the clinical study to better understand individual variability.

#DR ROBIN GOLAND SKIN#

Skin biopsies will be taken to generate a type of stem cell that can be stored and used in future experiments.

#DR ROBIN GOLAND TRIAL#

In addition, future studies might include people with T1D autoantibodies to examine if TUDCA has the potential to be used in combination with other agents to prevent T1D.Īnother unique aspect of the trial will be the attempt to measure the impact of TUDCA on a person’s insulin production. “So, first we want to prove that TUDCA is safe and possibly useful in people with new onset diabetes,” Goland said. The trial will also answer more questions about beta cell preservation, if TUDCA can preserve insulin secretion with new onset T1D. The upcoming trial first seeks to confirm TUDCA’s safety in treating T1D, although it has already been used in Europe for the treatment of liver diseases for both adults and children as young as newborns.

Click here to see an interview with the lead investigator. Robin Goland, the lead investigator of the JDRF TUDCA trial and a professor of clinical medicine and pediatrics at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. “TUDCA appears, at least in cells, to help bolster the cells’ ability to withstand stress,” said Dr. Based on these JDRF-funded pre-clinical findings, a new trial, also funded by JDRF, will begin this month to determine if TUDCA is safe and effective in treating humans with T1D. TUDCA, formally identified as tauroursodeoxycholic acid, is used to treat gallbladder and liver disease and is also identified as a “ chemical chaperone.” Because of its chaperone properties, TUDCA was discovered to alleviate ER stress, and when TUDCA was given at early stage of T1D in mice, a reduction of diabetes was observed. The ER machinery may fail to keep up with the demand, potentially making insulin processing defective. Specifically, too much stress in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the structure within the beta cells that folds and packages insulin from its precursor form, places increasing demands on beta cells to produce insulin. Scientists are beginning to learn that a stress response in beta cells may play a significant role in the dysfunction and ultimate loss of beta cells in T1D. Yet, new approaches are emerging based on what scientists are learning about how beta cells, the actual target of the autoimmune attack, may contribute to and possibly incite the immune response and diabetic disease process. Until recently, much of type 1 diabetes (T1D) research has focused on suppressing the autoimmune system to prevent or reverse disease, but this approach has been slow to yield promising, long-term results in people with T1D.

JDRF-funded clinical study of a drug called TUDCA looks to improve beta cell functioning in people recently diagnosed with T1D

Dr robin goland