Breakthrough in Diabetes Diagnosis: Novel Hybrid Peptides Show Promising Results

Researchers at Antigen Express, a subsidiary of Generex Biotechnology Corp., have made significant progress in developing a diagnostic kit to identify individuals in the earliest stage of type 1 diabetes mellitus. By studying novel hybrid peptides, which include antigenic epitopes that trigger diabetes, scientists have discovered that these peptides can stimulate peripheral lymphocytes of people with type 1 diabetes and control nondiabetic individuals.

Key Takeaways:

The study, conducted by academic collaborators in Rome, Italy, and London, England, has shown that novel hybrid peptides can stimulate peripheral lymphocytes of people with type 1 diabetes and control nondiabetic individuals.
Dr. Paolo Pozzilli, professor of endocrinology, University Campus Bio-Medico, Rome, and Dr. David Leslie, professor of diabetes and autoimmunity, Queen Mary's College, University of London, have been testing these novel hybrid peptides in patients with type 1 diabetes and control nondiabetic individuals.
The peptides have shown responses in predisposed individuals, indicating the earliest stage at which the individual is undergoing an autoimmune process that possibly leads to juvenile diabetes mellitus.
The Ii-Key peptide, discovered by Dr. Robert Humphreys, chief scientific officer of Antigen Express, acts on MHC class II molecules to regulate peptide binding or exchange, making vaccines in animals about 10 times more potent.
Antigen Express has developed patented novel hybrid peptides in which the immunoregulatory Ii-Key peptide is linked covalently to antigenic epitopes, with significant clinical and commercial potentials for diagnosing and suppressing autoimmune disease.
The study has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the Department of Defense.
The diagnostic kit aims to identify individuals in the earliest stage of type 1 diabetes mellitus by measuring T cell immune responses.

Statistics:

Novel hybrid peptides have stimulated peripheral lymphocytes 200-1000 times in test tube assays.
Vaccines in animals have shown a 10-fold increase in potency using Ii-Key hybrids.
Antigen Express has developed active research programs for breast and prostate cancers, melanoma, and infectious diseases such as HIV, influenza virus, smallpox, and SARS virus.

Sources:

NewsRx.com
NewsRx.net
Generex Biotechnology Corp. (GNBT)
Dr. Paolo Pozzilli, professor of endocrinology, University Campus Bio-Medico, Rome
Dr. David Leslie, professor of diabetes and autoimmunity, Queen Mary's College, University of London
Dr. Robert Humphreys, chief scientific officer of Antigen Express
Antigen Express
Obesity & Diabetes Week editors