Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine in the US are investigating a DNA based reverse vaccine which could potentially switch off part of the immune system which is responsible for destroying the cells which produce insulin.

This is the first vaccine of its kind and researchers are excited about the results so far sugesting it could shut down dysfunctional cells without causing damage to the healthy immune system.

Conventional vaccines typically deliver proteins that boost the immune system. However this vaccine contains some DNA of the gene that codes for the proinsulin protein and instead of boosting the immune response it attempts to shut it down.