By Emily Joshu Health Reporter For Dailymail.Com
18:59 20 Jan 2024, updated 18:59 20 Jan 2024
- Dr Quinn Peterson changed his focus to diabetes after his kids were diagnosed
- He is now working on treatments that he hopes will enter trials in a few years
- READ MORE: Inside the ‘seismic shift’ in the race to beat type 1 diabetes
A Mayo Clinic doctor is on a quest to cure diabetes within his lifetime after three of children were diagnosed with the type 1 form of the condition.
Dr Quinn Peterson, director of the Islet Engineering and Replacement Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, was pursuing a career developing chemotherapy drugs for cancer patients when his then three-year-old daughter, Clarissa, was diagnosed with diabetes in 2010.
‘That was a very significant event in our family’s life,’ he told DailyMail.com.
‘I felt a responsibility as a father that if I could contribute in any way to being able to relieve the suffering of this disease, not only for my daughter, but for all of those who are suffering with this disease, that I had the responsibility to do that.’
Since Clarissa, who is now 17, was diagnosed, two of Dr Peterson’s younger children – daughter Sarah, 12, and son Seth, 8 – have also been diagnosed.
Dr Peterson’s team is now developing a cell-based therapy that could replace the need for supplementary insulin – and it is already in trials.
Eventually, he hopes treatments like this could cure diabetes altogether, which is surging across the globe.
‘It’s been a very rewarding experience for me to be able to work on something that I have such a personal passion for. But that passion has only gotten stronger subsequently since my children were diagnosed.’
Dr Peterson noted that he’s seen the challenges his children face while living with type 1 diabetes.
As well as having to inject insulin every day, his children are also forced to feel like outsiders – such as missing out on birthday cake at parties and sitting out during sports.
The family also worries about complications the kids face, as the condition raises their risk of heart disease from narrowed blood vessels and kidney and eye issues.
These issues mean people with type 1 diabetes tend to die younger – with recent estimates suggesting the drop in life expectancy can vary from seven to 20 years.
Diabetes is a chronic condition in which the pancreas can’t produce enough beta cells, which make insulin. Insulin regulates blood sugar, also known as glucose, which the body needs for energy.
When the body can’t make enough insulin, too much blood sugar stays in the bloodstream. This can lead to heart disease, kidney disease, nerve damage, and other lasting health issues.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 38 million children in the US have diabetes, and one in five are undiagnosed.
In type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune reaction causes the body to stop making insulin. This can be diagnosed at any age, and the CDC estimates that five to 10 percent of Americans have it.
Type 2 diabetes, meanwhile, develops over many years and is usually diagnosed in adults. This occurs when…
Read More: Mayo Clinic doctor who has made it his life mission to CURE diabetes