In sight of a cure

Britain's reputation is growing as a centre for medical research

Diabetes is a debilitating, chronic disease that can lead to blindness, loss of limbs or death. Sufferers from the most virulent strain, type 1, need daily injections of synthetic insulin to keep their blood sugar under control. There is, at present, no known cure for a condition that affects some 300,000 people in Britain alone and whose prevalence among children under five has increased fourfold in the past 20 years. The announcement that British scientists are now testing a vaccine on human beings for the first time will, therefore, bring immense relief to thousands of sufferers, as it raises the prospect that in less than a decade there may be a definitive cure for this most damaging of diseases.

Diabetes is thought to result from a genetic predisposition, triggered by an unknown factor, which causes the body's immune system to attack its own tissue; cells in the pancreas then stop producing the hormone insulin. Scientists at the University of Bristol and at King's College London have already successfully inoculated mice with protein fragments that prevented the destruction of the insulin-producing cells or "islets". Work on human blood samples has identified the equivalent human protein sequence, making it possible to develop a vaccine containing a molecule that helps blood to generate protective cells to stop the destruction of insulin-producing islets. There is no certainty yet that the final stage in the research, the testing on human beings in August, will yield the guaranteed immunity demanded from a successful vaccine. But the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which is providing much of the funding, is sufficiently optimistic to talk of a "major potential pathway to a cure". That is very good news indeed -- not only for the thousands of children affected by diabetes, but for the future of scientific research in Britain.

Already this country has established an enviable reputation for advanced work in the fields of stem cells, organ transplantation, cell regeneration and sophisticated drug therapies. Excellence in one field tends to bolster faith in, and money for, related research, and can hold together teams of scientists who might otherwise head abroad. That, in turn, helps to persuade the Government that funding levels, through research councils and other bodies, must remain competitive so that Britain can maintain its reputation. When breakthroughs later bring, as they often do, prizes and revenue, Britain can credibly portray itself as a centre of excellence on the frontiers of scientific and medical research.

In recent years astonishing progress has been made in conquering some of the diseases that take the biggest toll. Two months ago successful trials on 2,000 children in Mozambique of a new vaccine against malaria raised the prospect of an end to a scourge that still kills millions of people, especially children, every year. Vital steps have been made in honing the treatment of cancer. Heart disease has been cut dramatically in some countries by a combination of prevention and innovative treatment. Only Aids remains a pandemic that appears to defy attempts to halt the fast mutating virus. Medical research is expensive and often comes with disappointments. Governments and funding bodies are tempted to cut funds or demand unreasonably quick results. Scientists must for ever be on guard again such short-sightedness. Their case is hugely strengthened by yesterday's news.

Copyright © 2004 Times Newspapers Ltd.

This article posted December 27, 2004.