A 25-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes started producing her own insulin less than three months after receiving a transplant of reprogrammed stem cells1. She is the first person with the disease to be treated using cells that were extracted from her own body.
“I can eat sugar now,” said the woman, who lives in Tianjing, on a call with Nature. It has been more than a year since the transplant, and, she says, “I enjoy eating everything — especially hotpot.” The woman asked to remain anonymous to protect her privacy.
James Shapiro, a transplant surgeon and researcher at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, says the results of the surgery are stunning. “They’ve completely reversed diabetes in the patient, who was requiring substantial amounts of insulin beforehand.”
This fails to answer the biggest question.
For most T1D is not about not producing insulin. That is a symptom. Not the desease.
Its a genetic condition where the immune system attacks insulin producing cells. Pancras transplants have existed since the 90s. In most cases the patients become t1d again the future.
As t1ds have already done this to there own insulin producing cells. How dose adding our own reprogrammed stem cells help long term?
While it may help long term. IE when we have a sullution to the autoimmune condition. It is at best a step towards a cure.
It is at best a step towards a cure.
That should not be dismissed.
Every step puts us closer to an actual permanent cure.
This is the most promising research for diabetes I’ve read in a while.
Here’s a story for those of you who, like me, are generally all doom-and-gloom.
I am not even gloomy but there can never be enough good stories
I genuinely hope this works out and can be replicated across the world. Diabetes is quite a problem for some; and most importantly; it’s something you can’t really easily prevent from occurring if you’re moderately predisposed to it.
this is about type 1 diabetes, and i’m assuming you’re talking about type 2
How do I volunteer as tribute?