In the United States, one of every 10 people is diabetic.
Diabetes is a condition of chronically high blood sugar. Those who are diabetic struggle, or are unable, to produce their own insulin – a hormone that regulates sugar levels in the blood.
Most people in the U.S. have Type 2 diabetes, the kind often linked to diet and lifestyle. But according to the CDC, around 5.7% are diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune condition where the body is unable to create insulin at all. In fact, the body attacks the cells that produce it.
There’s no cure for Type 1 diabetes right now, but at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, a growing number of researchers are working on finding it.
Dr. Hubert Tse, the chair of microbiology, molecular genetics and immunology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, is among several researchers who were recruited specifically to expand diabetes research. Tse’s lab researches strategies to transplant insulin-producing beta cells into people with Type 1 diabetes, who don’t have enough.
Tse says he’s optimistic a cure will be found in his lifetime, but there’s one big question left.
“The only thing that's sort of a last hurdle is really stopping the immune system from attacking itself,” Tse said.
Sherri Lozano, executive director of the Missouri and Kansas chapters of Breakthrough T1D, says that Kansas City-based research will be critical.
“The immunology piece is so big that certainly the work we’re doing here is going to have a much bigger impact across the globe,” Lozano told KCUR’s Up To Date.
- Sherri Lozano, executive director of the Missouri and Kansas chapter of Breakthrough T1D, formerly JDRF
- Dr. Hubert Tse, chair of microbiology, molecular genetics and immunology at the University of Kansas Medical Center
