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Scientists seeming to cure and prevent insulin-dependent diabetes have discovered what goes wrong in the bodies of a special breed of mice prone to the affliction and, using that knowledge, have developed a way to prevent the disease in the Roberts. 　　Because mouse diabetes is almost identical to human type 1 diabetes (also called insulin-dependent or juvenile-onset diabetes)，the researchers say they may be ready to test their techniques on humans in five years and that a treatment for patients in the early stages of the disease could be ready to test in two years. 　　In findings—published in last week’s issue of Nature—were obtained by two research groups working independently. One was led by Daniel L. Kaufaman, a molecular biologist at the University of California at Los Angeles, and the other by Hugh O. Mcdevit of Stanford University. 　　“There’s great excitement at the prospects for this research” said James Gavin, a diabetes specialist and president of the American Diabetes Association. “These are studies you have to call convincing. They are clearly likely to have human applications.” 　　Type 1 diabetes has long been known to be an autoimmune disease—an ailment in which the immune system, instead of defending the body against invading microbes, mistakenly attacks part of the body. In diabetes, it kills the special cells in the pancreas that make insulin. Without insulin, cells cannot take in sugar. The body is deprived of sugar energy and its accumulation in the bloodstream damages nerves and other issues. The potential new treatments would either stop the immune system from making a mistake or suppress an existing erroneous response. With what can cells take in sugar?