Non-Viral delivery of insulin and IL-10 to the intestine for immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes Year Two

There is increasing evidence suggesting a link exists between the gut immune system and several autoimmune diseases, including diabetes. The industrial partner of this project, enGene, has developed an effective non-viral based technology for the delivery of genes to the intestine. enGene has demonstrated the feasibility of delivering IL-10, which is an anti-inflammatory cytokine, to the intestine and showed therapeutic efficacy in inflammatory bowel disease. In a collaborative project between enGene and the Kieffer laboratory, we conducted a pilot study to evaluate whether gut IL-10 production might have a protective effect on the development of diabetes. Remarkably, localized delivery of IL-10 to intestinal cells significantly reduced the incidence of diabetes. In this proposal we plan to expand these studies to evaluate the benefit of co-delivery of IL-10 with insulin in preventing diabetes at different stagesn of disease progression and to uncover the mechanisms involved.

Faculty Supervisor:

Timothy Kieffer

Student:

Partner:

enGene Inc (St-Laurent, QC)

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: