The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), the lead federal agency leading research on integrative medicine, awarded the five-year, $1.8 million grant to Shan Zhu (Cornus) in the treatment of type 1 diabetes.
TCM practitioner/researchers Dr. Claire Chang and Dr. John Chen are part of the research team conducting the study, which is a multi-institutional effort led by Dr. Brant Burkhart (co-principal investigator) of the University of South Florida Department of Molecular Biosciences, Dr. Stanley Stevens Jr. and PhD candidate Justin Fletcher (co-principal investigators) also of the University of South Florida Department of Molecular Biosciences, and Dr. Mark Atkinson of the University of Florida Department of Pathology and Pediatrics.
“The NCCIH proposal aims to explain its mechanism of action, determine its impact on the development and progression of type 1 diabetes in vivo, and pinpoint the biological factors involved. Dogwood“We hope this research will provide new insights for clinical use, clarify what is required for pancreatic B cell survival and function, and provide a well-tolerated treatment for early-onset type 1 diabetes,” Dr. Burkhart said in a USF press release announcing the grant.
According to Dr. Chen, “Traditionally, Shan Ju Yu (Fructus Corni), commonly known as Asiatic Dogwood, is classified as an astringent herb that also has liver and kidney nourishing properties. shadow “It is used to treat a variety of diseases characterized by weakness, atrophy, wasting, debilitation and fluid loss. More recently, it has also been studied in the treatment of diabetes and its associated complications. It also has excellent anti-inflammatory properties that counteract the long-term adverse effects of inflammatory diseases.”
More than 350,000 children and adolescents under the age of 20 in the United States are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes develops when the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas are attacked and destroyed by the body’s immune system. Dr. Burkhart emphasized the importance of this research by saying, “Despite having strong predictive biomarkers for type 1 diabetes, there is no cure and only one interventional therapy has been recently approved to slow the progression of the disease.”
