TYPE 1 DIABETES PREVENTION TRIAL NEEDS VOLUNTEERS

Can type 1, insulin-dependent diabetes be prevented?

If blood tests suggest you are at high risk of developing

the condition, can anything be done to stop the process?

Type 1 diabetes, with its absolute insulin deficiency

and the resulting need for daily insulin injections, occurs

when the body's own immune system mistakes the insulin-

producing Beta cells of the pancreas for "invaders," as if

they were germs, and attacks them.� Researchers, who already

know how the body's immune system picks its targets and

destroys them, wondered if the "ICA" (islet cell antibody)

attack on the Beta cells could be deterred or short-

circuited, preventing or delaying the onset of diabetes.

The National Institutes of Health has launched a

research study to answer that question.� Researchers want to

know:�

A. Whether daily insulin injections, given to persons

judged at high risk of developing type 1 diabetes (but

not yet "diabetic"), might slow or prevent the disease.

B. Whether oral insulin, insulin pills, might "teach" the

immune system and its ICAs to "accept" the Beta cells,

halting the destructive process that causes type 1

diabetes.� This "oral tolerization" has already worked

in animal trials.

Major tests of this type cannot be done in some

laboratory.� They cannot be done quickly.� They cannot be

simply modeled on a computer.� "The Diabetes Prevention

Trial--Type 1" needs volunteers, people at high risk of

developing diabetes, to participate, to prove whether either

of these approaches has merit.� If either technique results

in a significant reduction or delay in full-blown diabetes

(as compared to similar folks not receiving the insulin), we

will have a potent new tool for diabetes prevention.

Researchers are still looking for close relatives of

persons with type 1 diabetes, to participate in the study.

Eligible participants must:� Be between the ages of three

and 45 years, be willing to accept either "injecting,"

"oral," or "control group" assignment, have blood test

results that show the person is at high risk of developing

type 1 diabetes, and must have a close relative with type 1

diabetes.� The researchers have very specific questions to

answer, and need to interview thousands of people to get the

right test subjects.� If you fit the criteria, and a free

preliminary test finds you have the ICAs, the islet cell

antibodies, in your blood, you might be one of them.

Nine different diabetes centers, located in California,

Colorado, Minnesota, Washington state, Florida, and

Massachusetts, will gather data.� More than 350 "screening

sites" across the country will help researchers find the

right test subjects.� Participants living in other areas can

have tests forwarded by their family physician.� For

information and a list of screening sites, call the Diabetes

Prevention Trial--Type 1 (DPT-1) National Coordinating

Center, located in Miami, Florida; telephone: