A clinical trial studying the body’s ability to fight type 1 diabetes with cell therapy has used the method on its first participant. “The Sanford Project: T-Rex Study” is a collaborative study between Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, and Caladrius (ka-lad-dree-us) Biosciences, Inc., for adolescents with newly onset type 1 diabetes.
Director of Clinical Trials for the Sanford Project, Dr. Kurt Griffin says this trial will attempt something different
Griffin says through these trials they hope to find a way to rebalance the immune system, without driving it so far in which the patient is susceptible to infections
Griffin says the studies done in the past have tried to do the same thing
A participant’s own T-reg cells are extracted from the body, purified and multiplied and returned to blood circulation. Researchers are monitoring if beta cells and insulin production can be preserved through this type of immunotherapy.
