In the international Pre-POINT study, published in the renowned scientific journal JAMA, DZD scientists at the Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden and the Helmholtz Zentrum München achieved a breakthrough in the prevention of type 1 diabetes together with researchers from Vienna, Bristol and Denver (USA): They completed the first step in development of an insulin vaccine successfully.

The study, a double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation, assessed the immune responses and adverse events associated with orally administered insulin in autoantibody-negative, genetically at-risk children. The immune response to insulin was measured as serum IgG and saliva IgA binding to insulin, and CD4+ T-cell proliferative responses to insulin. In this pilot study of children at high risk for type 1 diabetes, daily oral administration of 67.5 mg of insulin, compared with placebo, resulted in an immune response without hypoglycemia. These findings support the need for a phase 3 trial to determine whether oral insulin can prevent islet autoimmunity and diabetes in such children.

Original publication:
Bonifacio E, Ziegler AG, Klingensmith G, Schober E, Bingley PJ, Rottenkolber M, Theil A, Eugster A, Puff R, Peplow C, Buettner F, Lange K, Hasford J, Achenbach P. Pre-POINT Study Group. Effects of High-Dose Oral Insulin on Immune Responses in Children at High Risk for Type 1 Diabetes: The Pre-POINT Randomized Clinical Trial. doi: 10.1001/jama.2015.2928, JAMA April 21, 2015

Link to the publication:http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2275446