Canadian researchers revealed that type 1 diabetes in mice was slowed by an experimental vaccine known as nanovaccine, which contained tiny molecules of an immune-system protein. This raised hope that it might have the same effect on people too.

When T cells begin attacking insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, an individual suffers from type 1 diabetes. However, all the T cells do not cause harm, according to Dr. Pere Santamaria of the University of Calgary in Alberta.

Santamaria, “Essentially, there is an internal tug-of-war between aggressive T cells that want to cause the disease and weaker T cells that want to stop it from occurring”. Santamaria's team wanted to counteract the harmful autoimmune response without negotiating general immunity.

They managed to develop the nanovaccine particles which are many times smaller than a cell and covered with protein fragments, specific to type1 diabetes.

The mice which had an early form of type 1 diabetes were given the vaccine by the team and it was found that it slowed the development of the disease. The vaccine helped in restoring normal blood sugar levels in the mice which had full-blown diabetes.

The vaccine expanded the number of T cells, which work to resist the attack of aggressive T cells that destroy the insulin-producing beta cells.