Posted on 08/31/2014 1:18:08 PM PDT by nickcarraway
I know this is a loaded and extremely controversial topic but there’s been a big break in the diabetes world. I thought it needed to be shared because no matter how you feel, it’s a big deal! ViaCyte Inc. has been given FDA approval to begin clinical trials on beta cell encapsulation.
You may be wondering why this is a big deal. You see, in Type 1 diabetes the body’s own immune system attacks beta cells found in the pancreas. These beta cells produce insulin and the attack makes them unable to do that. Because the body can no longer make its own insulin, the person must get insulin through injections or an insulin pump. Without a working pancreas, the person must work endlessly to control blood sugar levels. Uncontrolled levels can cause devastating effects such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, other complications and even death.
If only there were some way to get working beta cells into type 1 diabetics and not have the body’s immune system attack them. Well, now there just might be. ViaCyte is creating beta cells out of stem cells. They then put them in a cover that allows the produced insulin to get through it and enter the bloodstream. This cover allows the insulin to get through, but its pores are small enough to screen out components of the immune system that could attack the cells.
The encapsulated beta cells would be implanted in the body and would allow people to live as if they did not have diabetes for up to 24 months! Twenty four months without thinking about this disease…I can’t even imagine 24 minutes!
There’s so much hope riding on this trial. Since the day I was diagnosed nearly 28 years ago, my parents and I have been hearing that a cure is “right around the corner.” After hearing this and seeing no results time after time, you start to seriously doubt it. I can’t describe how exciting it is to see something finally make it to clinical trials that could actually make diabetes disappear for awhile.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m oh so grateful for the advances in technology that I’ve seen throughout my years. They’ve definitely made diabetes more manageable allowing people to have happier, longer lives. This however isn’t something that will make the disease easier; it’s something that will make the disease disappear! And it’s something I’ve been dreaming about for nearly 28 years!
As with anything in bio genetics, it changes every year or so.
Good luck. I appreciate your dilemma. A cure is coming.
The other research, using skin cells, looks promising. This one, not so much.
Prevention for type one diabetes has been known for a long time. Dosing infants with 2000 IU’s per day of vitamin d3 during the first year prevented 80% of the type one cases that should have appeared during the succeeding 20+ years.
Rodents knock outs that are engineered to become type ones are prevented from becoming type ones by dosing with d3
while they are pups.
Type one cases that should have appeared? What does that mean? How do you know if a child should become a type one?
The incidence rate of type one diabetics in Finland is substantially higher than the rate of incidence in Asian populations. The incidence of type one diabetes in Asian and Scandinavian populations is well known to the epidemiologists that study these fact patterns. The d3 study was done in Finland and the rate of incidence of type one diabetes among the d3 group was only 20% of the incidence of type one among the control group (untreated with d3).
Exposure to UVB would do the trick... too bad popular “wisdom” has par3nts smearing UV blockers on their kids. Hand sanitizer is another downfall.
Wish I would have known. I have two type 1 children with no history of type 1 anywhere in the family. I sunscreened them but not to the point where they didn’t tan. Big believer in sunshine.
Having said that, they've been talking about encapsulation for twenty years, so it would take more than this to get me excited anyway.
I hope their plan is to use one’s own stem cells for the treatment.
I understand and respect your decision. My hope is that if this trial is successful then a way can be found using adult stem cells. I did not realize they had been talking about encapsulation for so long; but I do believe they will beat diabetes, or at least find a much better way to treat it.
The one that had my interest was encapsulated swine islets. The problem was that they didn’t have enough of the pigs that they needed.
There are a couple of companies that have managed to tease adult stem cells into islets. I don’t know why they wouldn’t just use those. Combine that with encapsulation and you’ve got a treatment, free of morality issues.
For years, my son was the only one in two families with T1D. This year, we’ve got two more on hubby’s side.
Seems you are correct sir.
http://viacyte.com/technology/stem-cell-engineering/
ViaCyte was the first company to engineer human embryonic stems cells into definitive endoderm, the gatekeeper cells that differentiate into pancreas, liver and other cells, tissues and organs.
It appears that these ARE ESC. That’s a shame. I am willing to bet once the cells are developed they will be able to use adult cells. As I indicated in my opening comment—the bio engineering world is changing so fast it is tough to keep up.
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