DC4U, a Netherlands-based preclinical-stage immunology company developing innovative treatments for auto-immune diseases and allergies, announced on Tuesday that it has been awarded a EUR1.7m Eurostars (SiaDM) grant together with a Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) research group led by prof Bart Roep, Intavis Peptide Services GmbH (IPS), and prof Karsten Kretschmer of the Technische Universitat Dresden (TUD), for the joint development of an innovative treatment for Type I diabetes.

The new ground-breaking approach uses, paradoxically, sugars to re-educate the immune response and restore tolerance to the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. Earlier clinical studies by the group of Bart Roep revealed that it is feasible to modulate the immune response and induce tolerance to pro-insulin using immune cells from the patient trained by vitamin D3. However, this procedure is complex, expensive, and laborious.

DC4U's glycoimmunology technology research is claimed to offer an off-the-shelf alternative. This is where sugar meets protein. Ground-breaking glycoimmunology research by DC4U's CSO prof Yvette van Kooyk, ensures the efficient targeting and triggering of dendritic cells (DCs) in order to elicit a specific, potent, and long-term immune response without adverse effects. Fused together with expertise and knowledge of the LUMC (Netherlands), it is claimed that this unique combination can accelerate the development of a potential cure for Diabetes Type 1, which can benefit millions of patients

Professor Bart Roep, professor of Diabetology, Immunopathology & Intervention and director of the Dutch National Diabetes Center of Excellence at the Leiden University Medical Center, said, 'I'm thrilled that we've been awarded this Eurostars grant, as with this project we will be one important step further in a career long journey to translate new understanding of the mechanisms leading to type 1 diabetes to finding a solution for millions of patients suffering from this condition. The revolutionary approach provided by this consortium and specifically with the help of DC4U's resolution of a more practical immune modifier through its glycoimmunology technology, will support those goals and will set an important next step.'