Medication Helps Some Diabetics Live Insulin-Free

By Kevin Leibrock, Hendricks County Flyer, Avon, Ind.

Aug. 5–DANVILLE — Nearly one out of every 12 Americans has diabetes, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For many people — including 27-year-old John Colvin — living with the treatable disease has become routine.

The Hume, Ill., native was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at eight weeks of age, but began seeing Danville-based specialist Dr. Samuel Wentworth as an 8-year-old to check his blood-sugar level.

Colvin took insulin injections twice a day, but as a child, decided to administer them himself.

“I’m a big St. Louis Cardinals fan and my dad is a huge Chicago Cubs fan,” Colvin said. “He got in a wreck, so he wasn’t able to give me my shots. We were supposed to go up to Wrigley Field for a game, but my mom said the only way I could go is if I gave myself my own shots. I learned pretty quick.”

Colvin continued to inject himself twice daily, until he recently found out that he has a different, much more rare variation of the disease — monogenic diabetes.

Forming in only one out of every 200,000 people, monogenic diabetes differs from the typical Type I condition in that insulin-producing cells are still present in the body, but a genetic mutation renders them ineffective. The genetic mutation responsible for the disease appears at birth.

In conventional Type I diabetes, the insulin-producing cells are destroyed by the body’s immune system, therefore creating a need for insulin injections.

Now married with a child of his own, Colvin continues to go to Wentworth for check-ups, but he brings with him an additional patient — his 10-month-old daughter Adysen, who also has monogenic diabetes.

“It’s probably in most cases a chance happening,” Wentworth said. “It is a genetic mutation and it appears that there are several kinds.”

For treatment, both John and Adysen take glyburide, a drug in a family of diabetes medications called sulfonylureas. Glyburide can be taken in either pill or liquid form, and in some patients, eliminates the need for insulin.

“This allows his pancreas to produce the insulin,” John’s wife Jennifer said. “The genetic mutation had basically turned off his pancreas. This drug treatment basically turns it back on, it flips the switch.”

By taking four pills three times a day, Colvin has eliminated the need for insulin injections — much to his relief.

“This is so much nicer than taking the injections,” Colvin said. “Especially with Adysen. Giving her liquid instead of a shot is so much easier.”

Andrew Hattersley first identified monogenic diabetes in 2006 in England. Dr. Louis Philipson of the University of Chicago is leading the American studies of the rare disease.

“My guess is the treatment was discovered by accident,” Wentworth said. “Probably somewhere, somebody down the line decided to treat an adult such as John like a Type II diabetic and took them off insulin and on this oral agent, and it turned out they did fine.”

Wentworth said the Colvins’ treatment has gone smoothly so far, with only the occasional stomach ache as a setback. But due to the medication still being relatively new, he said the long-term effects are unknown.

kevin.leibrock@flyergroup.com

—–

To see more of the Hendricks County Flyer or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://flyergroup.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, Hendricks County Flyer, Avon, Ind.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.