Diabetes is one of the biggest health problems in the world, an incurable disease. You can live with diabetes as long as your disease is diagnosed as early as possible and as long as you have access to currently available treatment options. This includes access to insulin, a key treatment for managing blood sugar levels.
Getting rid of diabetes is currently impossible, but research is underway to find a cure. The latest development comes from China, where doctors in Shanghai claim to have successfully cured type 2 diabetes in a 59-year-old patient. Researchers used stem cells from the patient’s blood to jumpstart the pancreas and allow it to produce its own insulin.
After 11 weeks, the patient stopped insulin, and then other oral medications for diabetes management were gradually reduced. Some 33 months later, his pancreas continues to produce insulin on its own.
Type 2 diabetes is acquired diabetes and does not always require insulin therapy. It is also the more common type of the two. Type 1 diabetes is what you are born with and it is insulin dependent.
Diabetes can cause all sorts of complications, especially if it’s poorly managed or left untreated. The disease can affect other organs such as the heart and kidneys. The 59-year-old patient participating in the study had a 25-year history of type 2 diabetes. The man developed end-stage diabetic nephropathy, a kidney problem that required a kidney transplant in June 2017.
A few years later, he developed poor blood sugar control. This, combined with the risk associated with kidney transplant, convinced doctors to pursue the stem cell treatment option.
The researchers derived stem cells from the patient’s blood, transforming them into pancreatic islet cells, which manage insulin production. They transplanted the resulting cells into the patient’s pancreas, which then formed new pancreatic tissue capable of producing insulin.
The procedure was successful and the new pancreatic tissue began to produce insulin. After 11 weeks, the patient stopped administering external insulin, a sign that the transplanted stem cells were working as expected.
The following year, doctors also reduced the dose of oral diabetes medications, which helped the patient control his blood sugar. They eventually stopped the oral treatment altogether.
As of May 2024, the patient remains insulin independent approximately 33 months after the stem cell transplant. This effectively means that his type 2 diabetes has been cured.
However, the patient will likely continue to be observed for years to ensure that the pancreas is functioning properly.
As a family member with diabetes, I have long been interested in ways to monitor and manage the disease.
That’s why I’m excited to see companies like Apple and Samsung develop non-invasive ways to measure blood sugar using wearable devices like the Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch. Such technological advances would contribute to early detection of diabetes risk and management of treatment after diagnosis.
As the International Diabetes Federation projections above show, the number of cases of diabetes worldwide is set to increase significantly in the coming years, especially in the absence of a cure. Some 537 million adults are currently living with diabetes, and this figure is expected to rise to 783 million by 2045.
The more effective the treatment, the better the patient’s overall health will be. Hopefully, over time, more people will be able to benefit from a treatment similar to that developed by the Shanghai researchers.
As impressive as the stem cell breakthrough is, more research is needed to determine whether this diabetes cure can be replicated on a large scale. Additionally, more research is needed to test similar stem cell therapy for type 1 diabetes. Again, this is the type of diabetes that requires insulin from a young age. You will find the complete study at this link.
As NextShark points out that this is not the only test involving stem cell therapy to cure diabetes. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a similar treatment offered by a Chicago-based company for type 1 diabetes.
News Source : bgr.com
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