: It is estimated that at the current time, between 10,000 and 20,000 children between the ages of 10 and 19 with type 1 diabetes have residual insulin secretion. In spite of extensive research to develop pharmacotherapeutic agents to prevent loss of insulin production, no therapies are currently clinically available. People with this disease must therefore rely on insulin injections or insulin pump therapy to prevent acute and chronic complications and premature deaths. It is well-known that HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, a class of drugs called statins, regulate the production of LDL cholesterol and have been shown to help prevent inflammatory processes in humans. It also has been demonstrated that drugs of the statin class are capable of shifting T cells from a Th1 to a Th2 phenotype, reducing inflammation in the rodent model of multiple sclerosis, a T-cell mediated disease. Islet-directed Th1 cells and their attendant cytokines (especially IL-1, interferon-gamma, and TNF-alpha) are responsible for the destruction of islet cells in type 1 diabetes in humans and in the non-obese diabetic mouse model. These observations suggest that members of the statin class of drugs, such as atorvastatin, may forestall the destruction of islet cells in patients with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. The ability to significantly delay the further loss of beta cells in these patients would dramatically improve diabetes control, lessen the likelihood of complications and improve quality of life.
