Tuberculosis Vaccine May Reverse Type 1 Diabetes

A recent study shows two injections of the bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine (used to prevent tuberculosis) a few weeks apart may reverse the causes of type 1 diabetes over several years. In the study of 52 participants, nine received the injections and three received a placebo. Those who received the injections had a substantial reduction in the blood-sugar marker HbA1c used to diagnose diabetes: a 10 percent reduction after three years and 18 percent after four years, bringing them below the cutoff point for a clinical diagnosis. And, after being followed for an additional eight years, most retained the reduction. In contrast, those who received a placebo and followed normal diabetic management saw their blood sugar measurement rise by a few percentage points during the same periods. All study participants continued to use insulin during the study period.

“Nobody thought you could intervene with an immunotherapy in people 10, 20 years out,” said the study’s principal director Denise Faustman, MD, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Immunobiology Laboratory. “To have data showing durability for eight years, without revaccination, is remarkable.”