In response to the growing health burden of diabetes mellitus (diabetes), the diabetes community has three choices: prevent diabetes; cure diabetes; and take better care of people with diabetes to prevent devastating complications. I n the next five years, some $2.5 billion will be spent on diabetes research around the world. Several approaches to "cure" diabetes are being pursued.

The focus will be on 6 therapeutic targets:

•  Perfecting islet transplantation – without chronic immunosuppression – to permanently restore normal blood sugar levels in people with type 1 diabetes

•  Creating safe, stable, and widely available “universal donor” sources of insulin-secreting cells for transplantation—through stem cell research and research to develop safe, human-compatible islet cells from animal sources

•  Regenerating the body's own beta cells without islet transplantation – and simultaneously inducing immune tolerance to restore normal blood sugar levels;

•  Perfecting a closed-loop artificial pancreas

•  Creating novel approaches and therapeutics for predicting, preventing and reversing complications

•  Preventing type 1 diabetes by maintaining or restoring immune tolerance in new-onset patients.

Each of these approaches still has a lot of challenges, such as preventing immune rejection; finding an adequate number of insulin cells; keeping cells alive; and others. But progress is being made in all areas.

Data Source: Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International