Study Shows that Stem Cells Provide Alternative Treatment for Diabetes
While a student at UMass, some of the closest friends I’ve made happen to have Type I diabetes. I’m surprised at how little I hear about research on this topic.
Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disorder. At an early age, usually before 20, the immune system begins attacking cells on the pancreas’ islets of Langerhans that are essential to the production of the hormone insulin. Insulin is needed to pass glucose from the bloodstream into the cell where it can be used as fuel. Without insulin, glucose levels in the blood increase and cells throughout the body starve. Type I diabetics inject synthetic insulin every day to make up for the function their pancreas no longer has. Unfortunately, injecting insulin is an imperfect science and also an uncomfortable procedure.
As a biology major who sees the daily affects of diabetes on life, I’m always curious about current studies and experimental treatments related to the disorder. Recently I came across the article “Stem Cell Transplant Resets Immune System in Type I Diabetes” which described an experiment that allowed Diabetics to go without insulin injections for up to 35 months.
Patients involved in the study had blood taken from which adult stem cells were filtered out. They were then placed on drugs to suppress their immune system. The adult stem cells were then injected into each of the patients.
During a 7- to 36-month follow-up, 14 patients became insulin-free (1 for 35 months, 4 for at least 21 months, 7 for at least 6 months; and two with late response were insulin-free for 1 and 5 months, respectively.) Among those, one patient resumed insulin use one year after the therapy. The only severe adverse effects were pneumonia in one patient and endocrine dysfunction in two others
It is thought that the study provided temporary relief from diabetes because the body was allowed to rebuild the immune system.
This study has some amazing results but there is still so little known about why people have Type I diabetes. Also, the study was performed on diabetics who were all diagnosed within 6 weeks prior to the experiment. The pancreas of each diabetic studied would still be relatively healthy. It is unknown how this study would affect people who have had Diabetes for longer periods of time. Although there is a lot more to learn about Type I diabetes, it is great to know that adult stem cells may be able to provide relief to many in the future.
APentowski
posted by PWH @ 1:12 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
I really like your personal relation to the topic. It is interesting how we don't often hear about diabetes research or new treatments, even though it is such a common disease.
You mention the number of patients the new experiment showed some positivity for, but how many patients total did they test in the new stem cell study? Also, I'm curious whether they're currently testing patients who have been diagnosed with diabetes for years, not just six weeks.
How much more effective do they think this method will be in comparison to insulin shots? It seems like there's still much to be perfected, since as you said, the new study only provides temporary relief. So, would patients have to keep injecting stem cells, repeating the lengthy process, or would they just go back to insulin shots?
It's really interesting research, and I'm curious to watch how it progresses over the years. Maybe a permanent treatment will come out of this?
This is an interesting topic you are writing about. The synthesis of insulin now allows type 1 diabetics to live fuller lives, but it is still a hassle to deal with. It is about time that a more permanent solution was discovered, that would fix the problem at the source, rather than just on the surface. I believe that stem cells show a lot of promise in the treatment in diabetes, along with countless other diseases. It is a shame that stem cells must face an uphill battle against ethics before their undeniable usefulness in modern medicine can be fully exploited.
ryanj6
I thought that your article was incredible. I myself am really interested in the study of stem cell research. I think it is great of how many ways we are finding to elongate the lives of humans. Not only make our lives elongated but make our lives much better for us. Now that researches have found a new method of stem cell for diabetes, I am sure that people who have diabetes will be relieved to know that life will be a little bit easier for them.
Great Article!
My cousin, who is still in high school has diabetes. He was diagnosed a lot longer ago than six weeks though, so if they find out this treatment can have similar effects on people who have had the disease for a while then I will be greatly excited for him.
It's good to know that there is some progress being made in the treatment of certain diseases that were thought to be uncurable though, it gives good hope for the future.
paradis6
It is good to hear that there are experiments being done in order to treat patients suffering from Type 1 diabetes, but this experiment seems very risky since the patients need to take high doses of immune system suppression drugs. This would make the patients more susceptible to illnesses. Since the patients were diagnosed 6 weeks before the experiments were performed, I infer that most of the patients are relatively young (age 20 or younger) since Type 1 diabetes is more frequent in children. If patients who are older than 20 years of age take the immune system suppressant drug will they be more susceptible to disease that the patients 20 years of age and younger?
Also how much blood do the experimenters need to take from the patients in order to obtain a sufficient amount of adult blood stem cells? Could the experimenters use donated blood that matches the patients’ blood type as an alternative?
Your search is vary interesting. From what I know, type one diabetes is a vary inconvenient disorder. my grandmother who is currently 64 years old is suffering from this disorder. I was just wondering if the stem cell treatment have any side effects related to it and Will this treatment have equal effect on patients like my grandmother who had the diabetes for 64 years? also if type one diabetes is present in your family, how likely will the next generations being effected?
I am grateful for your research. Your statements are clear and precise and I hope this stem cell treatment could help people in all ages.
Zhaoy5
I enjoy the article and find it interesting that stem cells can be used to treat Diabetes. I feel that it is important to look into stem cells as a use for many problems. Although controversial I believe they will be able to help people out. I feel that this is just more evidence of that fact. Great article.
I found the study you referenced in your blog very interesting. I know that type 1 diabetes has other complications such as heart disease, blindness, nerve damage, and kidney damage. Were there any side effects of the treatment that had effects on that side of the disease?
I thought this blog was really interesting because i also have a lot of friends that have Type I Diabetes. No one really realizes that there is a lot of research going on about it, people are constantly trying to find cures to diseases. Its great to know that there are people out there trying to make the lives of other better. This is really interesting research and im sure a lot of people would want to hear or know about it. This would make the lives of certain people so much better.
senab6
What a fascinating article! Type I diabetes is something so rarely talked about, yet so many Americans suffer from it.
It is interesting to see the on-going studies about stem cells. It is obvious to me that stem cell research continues to provide amazing results that could positively affect millions of people. Our generation will have to fight to allow stem cell research more so in the future.
mfwasser
I really thought that your topic was very interesting and it also had a personal touch to it which also made it fun to read. I usually hear about type II diabetes, but not that much about type I diabetes. It's sad what people have to go through, it good to know that people are working on it to make it easier for them.
This article was informative. I have Type II diabetes which is sometimes hard to manage, yet I can only imagine the difficulty of handling Juvenile Type I diabetes in children. What interests me is the role stem cell research might serve to play in this if the federal guidelines are relaxed and more researchers can attack this problem. I would hate to think that medical break throughs may not come to be a reality because of legislative restrictions.
CatherineS
Course Participant
terefeh6
I think this research is great especially considering the day to day needle poking that diabetic people have to go through. With more research, the method used, putting adult stem cells on drugs for a certain effect might even work to fight other diseases. The only thing that concerns me is the fact that the diabetes comes back after a while. This indicates that, if people use the treatment they would have to do it over and over, which might be inconvenient physically and financially to many people. Besides that I think it is a great research and I hope the end result will be a positive one.
Great article! I was a little confused however with your explaination of the process. Once they take the adult stem cells out do they do anything to them before reinjecting them back into the patient? Do the stem cells have to undergo some sort of differentiation before they are reintroduced or do they just differentiate by themselves once inside?
Recently, there has been a lot of frizzy about stem cells and if they actually help. Or is it even humane. Although,Diabetes is a disease that effects thousands of people each day, we rarely hear anything about new treatments. Its usually isulin and thats it.
I have heard about stem cells, but not how they work alongside diabetes Type I. Although this is could be very usualful. Alot of researchers and activits beleive different. the stem cells used could be totally rejected from the indivdual causing it to have no affect on the person.
Maybe they can aide in the assit people who have diabetes. But i believe you cant fully get rid of insulin shots. Stem cell therapies have immense amount of hurdles to overcome before they can be say it will save the lives of many.
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