Main story:
http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-bcg-diabetes-20110625,0,6341862.story
Background:
http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-diabetes-bcg-vaccine-06252011,0,3306778.story
I read this too on http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20110624/diabetes-vaccine-110624/ and find it amazing that something that has been around for decade could possibly lead to a cheap cure. It’s inspiring and sad at the same time because there isn’t a great deal of funding.
This is the Faustman work at Massachusetts General Hospital. There have been numerous posts about it here - search for Faustman. She actually has a lot of funding from the Iaccoca foundation, but she needs to raise more money because she isn’t funded by the drug companies (since it isn’t a drug they can patent).
Hope.
This a fascinating study that is very different from most current research in T1 Diabetes. I am actually somewhat excited to see what this research can produce. My healthy level of skepticism has come up with 1 (reasonable) question:
If this treatment changes (possibly decreases) the subjects immune system, then will this set the subject up for more colds and cancers? I would guess that if the immune system is not recognizing and attacking beta cells it may have a tougher time recognizing the next pathogenic virus that you come in contact with. Any thoughts?
BCG is a vaccine that’s been around for ninety years, is the only current vaccine that the WHO recommends for TB, and the only significant side effect seems to be weird scar tissue (keloid), and I think it might kill you if you already have TB.
This is the 3rd discussion about this… Hope it works and fingers crossed 
Sounds promising!
Just an off the wall thought. Is this TB vaccine legally available OTC in Mexico, Caribean, or elsewhere? I would be so tempted for some homemade research if I lived somewhere like that. I am NOT suggesting that anyone find and or take this drug without contacting thier physician first.
I think that’s really exciting! Thanks for posting this (I guess I missed the other two!). I wish the article had something to say about the theoretical safety of this vaccine in high doses.
Also, as Capin101 suggested, playing with one’s immune system seems a little scary. I read somewhere that type I’s get cancer at much lower rates than other people. I don’t know what the source was or if it’s true and I get nothing when I google it. But if I knew that this treatment would undo that protection, I might opt for keeping my type I. Or not. I do kinda hate it. lol
You can find the original Faustman papers on the web. They’re pretty technical though. There isn’t much concern about this being safe (since it’s been used for decades), but there is a lot of uncertainty whether it will be effective in curing/improving human diabetes. A similar protocol worked on mice (not BCG but something similar), but mice are very different from humans (in case you hadn’t noticed!!)