4
NEWS
A round-up of 2024
The global quest to create better
treatments and find ways to
prevent and cure Type 1 diabetes
continued to gather pace in
2024. The Type 1 Diabetes Grand
Challenge, which kickstarted 10
pioneering research studies across
the UK and globally, has provided
a roundup of its highlights of the
last year.
Science fiction into fact
The Type 1 Diabetes Grand
Challenge is emboldening
scientists to be innovative and
disruptive, which is why some
of the projects funded in 2024
read like sci-fi storylines, from
investigating insulin-producing
brain cells to copying the immune
evasion tactics used by ticks.
Innovating insulin
For over a century, Type 1 diabetes
has been treated with insulin, but
it's also a very blunt instrument,
unable to adapt to the wideranging
factors that affect blood
glucose levels. In August 2024, the
Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge
invested over £2.7 million into six
projects to develop 'smart' insulins
that could transform the treatment
of Type 1.
Grand Challenge
In 2024, the Grand Challenge
went into the community,
talking to thousands of people
who understand the day-today
struggle of Type 1 and the
importance of our mission to
revolutionise treatments and
find cures.
Progress through
collaboration
Collaboration is key to progress,
and this was exemplified at the
first Beta Cell and Root Causes
symposium held in November
2024. The symposium brought
together hundreds of researchers
from different strands of the Grand
Challenge and people living with
Type 1 diabetes.
Looking ahead with hope
The Type 1 Diabetes Grand
Challenge will continue to build
momentum in 2025 by advancing
through collaborative working, and
this will continue at the Diabetes
UK Professional Conference in
February, where Grand Challenge
researchers will share ideas and
forge new connections.
To find out more, CLICK HERE.
Can you get to Cardiff?
Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge
researchers need your help!
Researchers are looking for
people aged 18-40 living with
type 1 diabetes who can get to the
University Hospital of Wales in
Cardiff to give two blood samples
over one day. This study looks to
answer the question: Does timing
matter for therapies to prevent
beta cell destruction? This is so
that the success of any future
therapies for Type 1 diabetes can
be improved. Eligible participants
who successfully donate two blood
samples will get a £300 voucher for
Love2shop.
To find out more click:
https://bit.ly/49w2flG
DKA in T1D on
SGLT2s
Anne L. Peters, MD has published some
thoughts on using sodium-glucose
cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors in
people with Type 1 diabetes. Early on,
she noted that patients found they had
less glycaemic variability, experienced
some weight loss and some HbA1c
reduction, and found their diabetes was
easier to manage.
However, after using them in people
with Type 1 diabetes for a few months,
she began to notice that an usually
high number were developing diabetic
ketoacidosis (DKA) and realised that the
increase in rates of DKA was due to the
use of SGLT2 inhibitors.
Dr Peters then developed a specific
protocol for the off-label use of SGLT2
inhibitors in her own patients: they
monitored their ketones and she
educated them about what to do, how
to prevent DKA and how and when to
stop the SGLT2 inhibitor.
She found that the protocol worked
really well on patients on multiple daily
insulin injections, and nobody went into
DKA. However, she still saw SGLT2induced
DKA in patients on insulin
pumps. As a result she tried using
injected basal insulin in combination
with pump systems so that these
patients would always have some basal
insulin that would help prevent DKA.