Stem cells reverse woman’s diabetes — a world first
A 25-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes started producing her own insulin less than three months after receiving a transplant of reprogrammed stem cells1. She is the first person with the disease to be treated using cells that were extracted from her own body.
“I can eat sugar now,” said the woman, who lives in Tianjing, on a call with Nature. It has been more than a year since the transplant, and, she says, “I enjoy eating everything — especially hotpot.” The woman asked to remain anonymous to protect her privacy.
James Shapiro, a transplant surgeon and researcher at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, says the results of the surgery are stunning. “They’ve completely reversed diabetes in the patient, who was requiring substantial amounts of insulin beforehand.”
#health #science #biology @science@lemmy.world @science@beehaw.org @news@lemmy.world @health@lemmy.world @usnews@beehaw.org
"cures" involving immunosuppression have been around for a long time. It's not a good outcome for most, the side effects of immunosuppression are worse than taking insulin.
The main patient discussed uses immunosuppression but later in the article they discuss some progress that doesn't involve halting the immune system. That's the potential breakthrough.