Main Text (excl abstract, refs, figure legends, acknows) = 3992 words 2 Abbreviations, BCI, BCM, -cell imaging and mass, respectively; IMIDIA, Innovative Medicines Initiative in DIAbetes; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; OPT, optical projection tomography; PET, positron emission tomography; SPECT, single photon emission computed tomography; VMAT, vesicular monoamine transporter; GLP1, glucagon-like peptide-1; PSA-NCAM, polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule; SUR 1, sulfonylurea receptor 1; STZ, streptozotocin; T1D type 1 diabetes; T2D, type 2 diabetes; TMEM27, transmembrane protein 27; USPIO, ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide 3
AbstractDiabetes mellitus is a growing worldwide epidemic currently affecting 1 in 12 adults.Treatment of disease complications typically consumes ~10% of healthcare budgets in developed societies. Whilst immune-mediated destruction of insulin-secreting pancreatic -cells is responsible for Type 1 diabetes, both the loss and dysfunction of these cells underlies the more prevalent Type 2 diabetes. The establishment of robust drug development programmes aiming at -cell restoration is still hampered by the absence of means to measure -cell mass prospectively in vivo, an approach which would provide new opportunities for understanding disease mechanisms and ultimately assigning personalized treatments. Here, we describe progress towards this goal achieved by the Innovative Medicines Initiative in DIAbetes (IMIDIA), a collaborative public-private consortium supported by the European Commission and dedicated resources of pharmaceutical companies. We compare several of the available imaging modalities and molecular targets and provide suggestions as to the likeliest to lead to tractable approaches and furthermore we discuss the simultaneous development of animal models that can be used to measure subtle changes in -cell mass, a prerequisite for validating the clinical potential of the different imaging tracers.4