Detroit area teen takes part in groundbreaking type 1 diabetes study using 100-year-old TB vaccine

FOX 2 - A 100-year-old vaccine is getting a fresh look as it's being studied to treat an autoimmune disease. One local child who's hoping to help change the world for people with type 1 diabetes.  

There's no cure for type 1 diabetes but currently a Metro Detroit teenager and a team of researchers are working to understand how a tuberculosis vaccine might change the future for those with the disease.

The backstory:

As a little girl, insulin shots and blood sugar monitoring become a critical part of daily life for Ivy Wutrubo. She knows she can manage her type 1 diabetes, but now wonders, can she fight it?

"It makes me feel strong ... that I have unique disease I can teach people about," she said.

Strong enough to take part in a trailblazing drug trial that could lead to a whole new treatment.

"Cure. I was hoping for the cure," said her mom Fran.

When Ivy was just 4 years old, Fran saw symptoms.

"The 'four t's' they call it - toilet, thirsty, thin, tired.' Those are your triggers," she said. "That's what you look for."

Testing leads to the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes -- a disease that alters many aspects of life, usually beginning in childhood.

"The problem is they just went out to play field hockey, (or) ice hockey, and all of a sudden their blood sugar is bottoming," said Dr. Denise Faustman. "They joined a whole group of kids and they're eating pizza. Now their blood sugar (is high). It's very hard for parents and hard for patients.

"This right here is called an Omni pump and it helps deliver insulin with my phone," Ivy said.

Ivy wears an insulin pump. With type 1 diabetes her body's own immune system has destroyed insulin producing cells in her pancreas.  Insulin plays a critical role in getting sugar from food you eat to your cells for energy.

When your body doesn't make it, blood sugar levels get too high. 

"You need to be on insulin the rest of your life," Faustman said. "If you don't have insulin for a week or two weeks, you're dead."

That's why Dr. Denise Faustman - originally from Michigan, now practicing at Mass General and Harvard in Boston, has made it her life's work to find a cure or at least a new treatment, using a very old drug.

"Using this 125-year-old drug called BCG. It's a micro organism. The drug was developed for tuberculosis," she said.

After years of research into people with type 1 diabetes, Dr. Faustman discovered their so-called bad white blood cells were hurting the pancreas - and there was another problem.

"We found type one diabetics have white blood cells that eat fats. And guess what, your white blood cells eat sugar," she said.

In adult trials using this old tb drug, those bad white blood cells started behaving.

"As being able to re-teach the white blood cells to eat sugar, in a regular fashion, can regulate blood sugars," she said. "So this vaccine is now being tested in blinded trials, in kids. Because if it works in adults, it should be able to get kids' white blood cells to eat sugar was well."

Ivy is taking part in the five-year double-blind placebo controlled trial, meaning she doesn't know if she got the drug or the placebo. 

But as she makes routine trips to Boston for blood draws, hope is very high.

"I just hope this trial works out and I hopefully I get the cure," she said.

"Being a part of history and a pioneer in this, and being a part of something that will change everybody's lives that are affected by type 1, is a big deal," Fran said.

What you can do:

Dr. Faustman is looking for more young patients to enroll in her pediatric trial - we will put a link to her website.

You can read about the research and there's a chance to donate as well. This is a generic vaccine very inexpensive and not profitable, so the funding for this research is for the people, by the people, as Dr. Faustman says.

The Faustman Lab is currently enrolling for a clinical trial to assess the effects of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination on blood sugar control in children with type 1 diabetes. The website can be found HERE.

To learn more and find out how to get involved, please contact our clinical research coordinators at diabetestrial@partners.org or 617-726-4084

You can help spread the word about the effort to reverse type 1 diabetes on social media using @faustmanlab and #BCG4T1D!

Ivy Wutrubo.