New Therapy Might Cure Type 1 Diabetes
Feb. 28, 2016 -- Patient testing has started on a stem cell treatment
that could offer a cure for type 1 diabetes.If the first-of-a-kind
treatment works as well in the patients as it has in animals, it would
eliminate the need for regular insulin injections
and blood sugar testing,
according to the Associated Press.In this therapy,
embryonic stem cells are prompted to turn into insulin-producing
cells. These are placed in a small capsule that is implanted under a patient's
skin. The capsule protects the cells from the immune system, which would
otherwise attack them.
In people with type 1 diabetes,
the immune system destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.A number of approaches
are being used in an effort to find a cure for
diabetes, but this is the first to be tested in patients, according
to ViaCyte biotechnology company. It has teamed with Johnson & Johnson to
speed development of the therapy, the AP reported.If the treatment proves
successful in human clinical trials,
it could be available in several years for type 1 diabetes patients
and eventually could also help insulin-using type 2 diabetes patients.
"This one is
potentially the real deal," Dr. Tom Donner, director of thediabetes center at
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told the AP "It's like making a new
pancreas that makes all the hormones" needed to control blood sugar."If the therapy can
lead to normal insulin levels, "it's going to prevent millions of
diabetics from getting dangerous complications," said Donner, who is not
involved in the research.About 29.1 million
Americans have diabetes,
including 1.25 million with type 1 diabetes,
according to the American Diabetes Associatiion.
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