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A drug commonly used to control high blood pressure for over 50 years may also help prevent the onset of Type 1 diabetes in up to 60 percent of those at risk for the disease. Methyldopa (commonly sold under the name Aldomet) is one of the preferred drugs for controlling hypertension in pregnancy.
After running thousands of drugs through the supercomputer, they found that methyldopa not only blocked DQ8, but it didn’t harm the immune function of other cells like many immunosuppressant drugs do. The research spanned 10 years and its efficacy was shown in mice and in 20 Type 1 diabetes patients who took part in a clinical trial at the Barbara Davis Center at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
“We can now predict with almost 100 percent accuracy who is likely to get Type 1 diabetes, the goal with this drug is to delay or prevent the onset of the disease among those at risk. With this drug, we can potentially prevent up to 60 percent of Type 1 diabetes in those at risk for the disease.”
"Existing Drug Effective at Preventing Onset of Type 1 Diabetes," Drug Discovery and Development, 20 February 2018, https://www.dddmag.com/news/2018/02/existing-drug-effective-preventing-onset-type-1-diabetes
- Some 60 percent of people at risk of getting Type 1 diabetes possess a molecule known as DQ8, which significantly increases the chance of getting the disease. Researchers at the University of Colorado and the University of Florida believed that if they could block specifically the DQ8 molecule they could also block the onset of diabetes.
- “We took every FDA-approved small molecule drug and analyzed HLA-DQ8 binding through a supercomputer. We searched a thousand orientations for each drug to identify those that would fit within the DQ8 molecule binding groove.”
After running thousands of drugs through the supercomputer, they found that methyldopa not only blocked DQ8, but it didn’t harm the immune function of other cells like many immunosuppressant drugs do. The research spanned 10 years and its efficacy was shown in mice and in 20 Type 1 diabetes patients who took part in a clinical trial at the Barbara Davis Center at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
“We can now predict with almost 100 percent accuracy who is likely to get Type 1 diabetes, the goal with this drug is to delay or prevent the onset of the disease among those at risk. With this drug, we can potentially prevent up to 60 percent of Type 1 diabetes in those at risk for the disease.”
"Existing Drug Effective at Preventing Onset of Type 1 Diabetes," Drug Discovery and Development, 20 February 2018, https://www.dddmag.com/news/2018/02/existing-drug-effective-preventing-onset-type-1-diabetes
