News archive 2008

Major investment at King’s for Diabetes research

28 May 2008, PR 100/08

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) has awarded more than £3million to fund a research centre to be based at King’s, in collaboration with Cambridge and Bristol universities, to investigate the causes of Type 1 diabetes.


The centre, which will be known as the JDRF Centre for Diabetes Genes, Autoimmunity and Prevention (D-GAP), aims to understand how and why Type 1 diabetes (a condition that results from an immune attack on the body’s insulin producing cells) occurs.  This knowledge may help develop future therapies with the aim of preventing the condition.

Mark Peakman, Professor of Clinical Immunology at King’s College London comments: ‘We know a good deal about the identity of the genes that confer risk of Type 1 diabetes, but very little about how they affect the immune system to do this. By bringing together leading clinicians, geneticists and immunologists, the new research centre, opening in 2008, represents an exciting venture that will address this critical scientific gap in Type 1 diabetes research.'

This collaboration includes Professors John Todd, Linda Wicker and David Dunger from the University of Cambridge and Professor Polly Bingley from the University of Bristol. The Centre thus combines UK strengths in the clinical, genetic and epidemiological aspects of the disease . Over the next 5 years, this team will be focused on trying to unravel the connection between genes, immunity and Type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is a serious, life threatening condition caused by the body's own immune system destroying insulin producing cells in the pancreas. Insulin is vital because it converts glucose from food into energy and a lack of insulin quickly results in serious illness and, if untreated, death. Type 1 diabetes strikes suddenly and without warning, usually in childhood and remains for life.

Multiple daily insulin injections and blood tests are essential just to stay alive but are not a cure and can not prevent the long term, potentially devastating complications including blindness, limb amputations, kidney failure, heart disease and strokes. Every year around £2.5 billion is spent in the UK on treating Type 1 diabetes and its complications.

Research being carried out at King’s by Professor Peakman and at the University of Bristol by Professor Bingley has shown that individuals with, or at risk of developing Type 1 diabetes have alterations in the way that the immune system interacts with insulin-producing cells in the islets of Langerhans. This makes it highly likely that Type 1 diabetes results from a failure at numerous levels of the ability to fine tune certain aspects of the immune response.

These results coincide with research efforts from John Todd and colleagues at the University of Cambridge which have shown that the genetic profile of an individual determines whether he or she runs the risk of developing Type 1 diabetes. So far it appears that the genes identified operate within the immune system.

Through the Centre initiative, researchers will take genetic samples, via a simple blood or saliva test, from 4,000 volunteers across the UK made up of those who have Type 1 diabetes, their relatives, and those from the general population.

Once all the data are collected, the researchers will begin a series of measurements on white blood cells. If a link between these measurements and the genes can be made, it will inform understanding of the disease process and pave the way for developments in the arena of novel drugs and therapies.

The D-GAP Centre will form a key component of the JDRF Autoimmunity Centres Consortium, linking clinicians and scientists at King’s to leading researchers in the field of Type 1 diabetes across North America.



Notes to editors

King’s College London
King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher 2007) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has 19,300 students from more than 130 countries, and 5,000 employees. King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. The College is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings and has an annual income of approximately £400 million. An investment of £500 million has been made in the redevelopment of its estate.

King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, social sciences, the health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres – more than any other university.

King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are working together to create the UK's largest Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC). The AHSC will bring together the widest range of clinical and research expertise in the UK – strengths that will be used to drive improvements in care for patients, allowing them to benefit from breakthroughs in medical science and receive leading edge treatment at the earliest possible opportunity.

For further information visit http://www.londonsahsc.org

For further information, or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Ross Kester, Communications Manager, 020 7713 2036, rkester@jdrf.org.uk

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) is the leading charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research worldwide.



Further information
Kate Moore,Public Relations Officer (Health Schools)
Public Relations Department
Email: kate.moore@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7848 4334



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