A 64-year-old man in the U.S. is likely the first patient who was cured from type 1 diabetes. According to NYT, his body now controls its insulin and blood sugar levels following an infusion of insulin-producing cells grown from embryonic stem cells.
The only cure that has ever worked in patients with type 1 diabetes is either a pancreas transplant or a transplant of the the insulin producing islet cells, from a donor's pancreas. Because of a shortage of organs such an approach is not an answer for the vast majority of patients with the disease. The cells infused in this patient were procured from unused fertilised eggs from a fertility clinic. It took over 20 years and a team of 15 people to successfully convert stem cells into islet cells at a cost of about $50 million.
If this successful treatment can be replicated it will be a major advance in the history of transplantation and will provide hope to 1.5 million Americans who live with the disease.
No comments:
Post a Comment