Research in China, using previous studies in animals, has cured a woman with type 1 diabetes by using stem cells.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system attacks cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, requiring lifelong insulin injection therapy.
Researchers from Peking University were able to take cells from three type 1 diabetes patients, turn them into stem cells and then reprogramme the stem cells to produce insulin.
After the transplantation of these insulin-producing cells to a woman’s abdomen, she began producing insulin after two and a half months and no longer needed injections.
This study, published in Cell, was preceded by successful safety tests in mice and macaque monkeys.
Described as a ‘world-first’ by Nature, the cured woman said: “I can eat sugar now.. I enjoy eating everything — especially hotpot.”
A similar study from Shanghai Changzheng Hospital, published in Cell Discovery, focused on type 2 diabetes.
Researchers were able to transplant similar insulin-producing cells into a 59-year-old man’s liver, also stopping him from requiring insulin injections.
Type 2 diabetes is where the body cannot use insulin properly, and can be managed through diet, exercise, or medication like insulin.