Cells fix diabetes
Published: February 16, 2005
University of Minnesota researchers transplanted islet cells from cadaver pancreases into eight, type one diabetes patients.
The patients can’t produce islets, the cells that make insulin to control blood sugar levels.
The study results are amazing.
University of Minnesota researcher, Dr. Bernhard Hering, says, “All eight recipients became diabetes-free and insulin-independent after islet transplantation and were protected from hypoglycemia episodes after transplantation.”
That means no more insulin shots, at least initially.
A year after transplant, five of the eight patients remained diabetes-free.
The findings are in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The patients have to take strong drugs to keep their bodies from rejecting the donor cells.
In Tucson, University of Arizona researchers are working on a similar islet transplantation study, but their treatment would not require the powerful drugs, and, therefore, could be safer.
The Uof A experiments still are in early stages.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota research team stresses it needs to do more studies on its procedure.
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