Will we soon be able to cure type 1 diabetes?
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This is a world first: a 25-year-old Chinese woman suffering from type 1 diabetes has managed to produce insulin. A world first which raises great hopes for the cure of this disease. The patient was able to get rid of her diabetes thanks to a stem cell transplant. Concretely, researchers from Peking University decided to extract some of its cells, and reprogram them to produce insulin, before reinjecting them. This technique was developed at Kyoto University, Japan, 20 years ago, but was therefore modified by Chinese researchers, who notably chose the abdominal muscles rather than the liver for the injection. The results were published in the journal Cell at the end of September.
No more need for insulin injections
The young woman began producing insulin three months after the injection of reprogrammed stem cells. It has now been a year since she no longer needed regular insulin injections, but the experiment must continue for several more years to consider the patient cured. Two other people followed by Chinese researchers also present promising results. The study could be expanded to 10 or 20 people in the future.
Last April, Chinese researchers from Shanghai University managed to treat a 59-year-old patient suffering from type 2 diabetes by also injecting him with reprogrammed stem cells. The latter also no longer needs to take insulin.
