Reprogrammed cells - Stem cells reverses a woman's diabetes

Posted by bimbra @bimbra, Jan 15 10:10am

I came across this on social media. Is it the typical hype or is there really a new hope for diabetics?
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In the first trial of its kind, Deng Hongkui, a cell biologist at Peking University in Beijing, and his colleagues extracted cells from three people with type 1 diabetes and reverted them into a pluripotent state, from which they could be molded into any cell type in the body. AND TURNED THEM INTO STEM CELLS.

In June 2023, in an operation that lasted less than half an hour, they injected the equivalent of roughly 1.5 million islets into the woman's
abdominal muscles - a new site for islet transplants. Most islet transplants are injected into the liver, where the cells cannot be observed. But by placing them in the abdomen, the researchers could monitor the cells using magnetic resonance imaging, and potentially remove them if needed. Two-and-a-half months later, the woman was producing enough insulin to live without needing top-ups, and she has sustained that level of production for more than a year. By that time, the woman had stopped experiencing the dangerous spikes and drops in blood glucose levels, which remained within a target range for more than 98% of the day. "That's
remarkable," says Daisuke Yabe, a diabetes researcher at Kyoto University.
BLOOD SUGAR NORMAL FOR OVER A YEAR NOW.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Diabetes & Endocrine System Support Group.

windyshores | @windyshores | Jan 15 1:21pm

@bimbra these breathless news flashes on type1 research seem to happen regularly as you know. My kid, now 34, has had it for 30 years. What they leave out if that injection of these stem cells requires immune suppression to work. Immune suppressions poses some considerable risks.

The improvements in pumps, CGM's, and communication between the two (and with the phone) has improved things dramatically for type 1's. I don't see any cures on the horizon that are safe.

Cheryl, Volunteer Mentor | @cehunt57 | Jan 18 12:45am

The article posted by @bimbra makes me cautiously optimistic. At the very least it is really interesting. The impression I got was that the stem cells came from the woman’s body in the first place and were converted to islet cells that were injected into the woman’s abdomen. If that is the case immune suppression is not necessary because “the goods” came from the patient herself.
Even so immune suppression is not that terrible. I’m nearly 68 years old. I had a pancreas transplant going on 20 years ago and have been immune suppressed ever since. I count the transplant and the immune suppression as gifts from God (plus the medical providers who have cared for me all this time). Was I cured of diabetes? No. But my A1C went from double digits (10 - 13) to 5.3 after the transplant.It has since crept up to 6.6. Immune suppression does have some drawbacks but more research is continually being done on that too. I should add that I do use a CGM and an insulin pump too. Overall I feel blessed and grateful.