There is good news for diabetic patients. They will no
longer need to inject insulin – thanks to a treatment
involving the use of insulin-producing cells which Harvard
University scientists discovered how to make.
The cure could, therefore, be imminent as the scientists
have produced large volumes of laboratory-grown
pancreatic cells required for one-off transplantation in
patients. The breakthrough has been hailed and compared
to the invention of antibiotics. It involved identifying how
to efficiently turn both stem cell types into beta cells.
The cells, millions of which were manufactured, produced
insulin, responded to glucose, worked on mice for many
months and will soon be used to treat humans. The
discovery is the result of 23 years of research by Harvard
Professor Doug Melton, whose study of type 1 diabetes was
prompted by his son having the condition as a six-month-
old.
His daughter received the same diagnoses. The cells could
be used to treat all patients rather than each person
needing their own genetically matched treatment. The cells
tested on mice were placed in a porous capsule to protect
them from attacks by the body’s immune system, while
allowing the insulin to diffuse out.
This means the cells could be produced on an industrial
scale and used on patients without possible immune
rejection, while the capsule could be replaced if it stopped
working. A report on the work is published in the October
10 edition of the journal Cell. Online reports quoted Prof
Melton as saying:
“It was gratifying to know that we could do something that
we always thought was possible, but many people felt it
wouldn’t work. We are now just one pre-clinical step away
from the finish line.” The Telegraph quoted Professor of
Regenerative Medicine, University College London Chris
Mason as saying the discovery was “potentially a major
medical breakthrough”.
“If this scalable technology is proven to work in both the
clinic and in the manufacturing facility, the impact on the
treatment of diabetes will be a medical game-changer on a
par with antibiotics and bacterial infections,” he said. Head
of Institute of Integrative Biology at the University of
Liverpool, Prof Anthony Hollander, added:
“This is very exciting fundamental research that solves a
major roadblock in the development of a stem cell
treatment for diabetes. “The study provides a very elegant
and convincing method for generating functional insulin-
producing cells in large numbers.”
Prof Mark Dunne of Manchester University said: “Overall
this is an important advance for the field of diabetes and
people with Type 1 diabetes.”

Applaud!!!

when will it become commercially avaliabe

Wonderful news but too late fr my grandpa who died from complications caused by diabetes.