Such help would lessen the need for shots to regulate normal blood sugar levels.
The study involves patients suffering from Type 1 diabetes, which occurs when the immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, requiring insulin through shots or a pump.
Dr. Lucienne Chatenoud of Paris' Necker Hospital spearheaded the study of 80 newly diagnosed patients; half of the patients received an experimental antibody drug called 'anti-CD3' to prevent the immune system attack; the other half received a dummy drug, both were administered on patients a week after they had being diagnosed as diabetics.
Both groups also received three daily insulin shots to control blood sugar levels.
After a year-and-a-half, the group receiving the placebo had lost an average one-thrid of its insulin-production ability and needed 50 percent more insulin shots, while the group that received the anti-body lowered their insulin dependence by 12 percent and saw an increase in insulin-making abilities.
The experiment was not without its side effects, however. Nearly all of those patients who took the drug developed symptoms of mononucleosis, as well as flulike symptoms such as fever and headaches. Side effects which researchers say are minor and short-lived.
In an editorial, Dr. Ake Lernmark, professor of medicine at the University of Washington, writes that more research is necessary in order to address the safety of the antibody.
Regardless, the results prompt the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to consider the findings promising and to encourage plans for future large-scale studies.
Results were published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
The federal government is supporting two studies of anti-CD3 in Type 1 patients.
