ITN News

In an ITN study of combined kidney and bone marrow transplantation, four of five subjects studied were able to be removed from all anti-rejection medications and maintain functioning kidney transplants. The study was led by Drs. David Sachs and Ben Cosimi of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and published in the January 24, 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The results of an Immune Tolerance Network (ITN)study, published in the October 5, 2006 issue of the New EnglandJournal of Medicine suggest that a six-week experimental allergytreatment can relieve hay fever symptoms for at least two years. Theresearchers believe that the six-injection immunotherapy regimen with anovel DNA-based drug known as ‘AIC’ could offer a significantimprovement over traditional allergen immunotherapy, which can requireseveral years of weekly or bi-weekly injections.

The results of the world's first multicenter clinical trial of islet transplantation have confirmed the technique's potential benefits in patients with difficult-to-control type 1 (or "juvenile") diabetes.

The Juvenile Diabetes ResearchFoundation (JDRF), the world's leading charitable supporter of researchinto type 1 diabetes and its complications, today announced a new,5-year $15 million joint funding program with the NIH-supported ImmuneTolerance Network (ITN) that is aimed at accelerating the pace ofclinical research towards a cure for type 1 diabetes.  TheJDRF-ITN Partnership in Immune Tolerance program will fund early-stageclinical trials and late stage preclinical development of potentialimmune tolerance-inducing treatments for type 1

The Immune Tolerance Network today releasedupdated results from its multicenter clinical trial of the EdmontonProtocol for islet transplantation. The results provide furtherconfirmation that transplantation of pancreatic islet cells can safelyand effectively eliminate the need for daily insulin injections inpatients with type 1 diabetes. The expanded results, encompassing theentire cohort of 36 patients enrolled in the trial also confirms thatthe technique can be successfully applied at multiple clinical centers.Dr.