- Some drugs are known to increase the body's sensitivity to insulin, and at least two broad classes of drugs with this effect are in use; however, others are being researched.

- There are also non-hormone drugs that stimulate production of insulin by islet cells. Since patients must have functioning islet cells for these drugs to work, they are only useful for patients with Type 2 diabetes.

Therapies for Complications of Diabetes

Diabetes causes a number of severe and debilitating problems, including nerve damage (neuropathy), eye problems (glaucoma, cataracts, retinopathy), heart disease, severe skin problems, gum disease and kidney disease. There are therapies and drugs to treat many of the complications of diabetes, but not all. Research is ongoing for drugs and therapies to treat nerve damage and retinopathy, for example. Diabetics have an increased risk for heart and kidney disease, so many of the therapies used to treat those problems are of interest for diabetics.

Future Treatments

Research continues on islet cell transplantation techniques, including research that uses stem cells derived from pancreatic ducts. Stem cells are immature cells that can be coerced to form mature pancreatic islet cells. Since stem cells can be grown in the laboratory indefinitely, they have the potential to be an unlimited source of islet cells for transplantation. There has been laboratory success with transplantation of islet cells derived from stem cells in mice, but not yet in humans.

Looking further into the future, researchers are studying the use of gene therapies to correct the genetic defects that are the original cause of diabetes. There are a number of hurdles to overcome before gene therapy will be used as a treatment for diabetes, the first being that the genetic factors that cause diabetes have not been completely identified. Some recent problems in trials of gene therapy for other diseases, including the death of some patients, have lead to some doubt whether these techniques can succeed. At the least, those problems have slowed trials of gene therapy, as researchers study what went wrong and attempt to devise solutions to the problems.

Because successful gene therapy will effect a true cure of the disease, it seems
likely that researchers will continue to pursue its development, despite the many hurdles. At this point, however, gene therapy for treatment of diabetes appears to be many years in the future.

You Can Help

If you have diabetes, you can help develop these therapies by participating in clinical trials. The American Diabetes Association's web site has additional information on clinical trials in which you can participate. Visit the site to learn more about the trials and also about new and existing therapies for diabetes and its complications.