(JDP-032) Antigen Associated With Type I Diabetes Mellitus
Massimo Pietropaolo, M.D., Ph.D. et al.
Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus
Diagnostic for Diabetes Mellitus
Diagnostic for Predisposition to Diabetes
Description:
This invention relates to a protein, designated PM-1, that is expressed in human pancreatic islet cells. Autoantibodies to this protein have been found in serum of some prediabetic individuals who later developed diabetes, while such autoantibodies have not been found in serum of nondiabetic individuals. This evidence suggests that these autoantibodies are correlated to the development of diabetes, and possibly to a predisposition to the disease. This leads to possible strategies for therapeutic approaches to diabetes as well as diagnostic methods for predisposition to diabetes.
Clinical &
Commercial Utility:
Purified PM-1 protein can be used as a therapeutic to treat or prevent the development of Type I diabetes. By administering this protein, or an antigenic fragment thereof, to a patient having diabetes or at risk of developing diabetes, the immune response to the PM-1 protein can be blocked. Issued U.S. Patent Number 5,891,437 covers this strategy.
Joslin Diabetes Center is offering a worldwide, exclusive license to this technology.
For more information please contact:
David J. Glass, Ph.D.
Director, Technology Transfer
Office of the General Counsel
Joslin Diabetes Center - Room 755C
One Joslin Place
Boston, MA 02215
Phone: 617-732-2400, ext. 4793
Fax: 617-732-2542 David.Glass@Joslin.Harvard.edu
