Posted on 11/11/2006 11:04:13 PM PST by batter
Scientists have used stem cells from human bone marrow to repair defective insulin-producing pancreatic cells responsible for diabetes in mice.
The treatment also halted damage to the kidneys caused by the condition.
Researchers from New Orleans' Tulane University are hopeful it can be adapted to treat diabetes in humans.
The study, featured in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was welcomed as "interesting work" by Diabetes UK.
Stem cells are immature cells which have the capacity to turn into any kind of tissue in the body.
The US team treated diabetic mice who had high blood sugar and damaged kidneys.
One group of mice were injected with stem cells. After three weeks they were shown to be producing higher levels of mouse insulin than untreated mice and had lower blood sugar levels.
The injections also appeared to halt damaging changes taking place in the glomeruli, the bulb-like structures in the kidneys that filter the blood.
Researcher Dr Darwin Prockop said: "We are not certain whether the kidneys improved because the blood sugar was lower or because the human cells were helping to repair the kidneys.
"But we suspect the human cells were repairing the kidneys in much the same way they were repairing the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas."
Growing problem
Dr Prockop said his team were planning to carry out trials in patients with diabetes.
"The physicians will be selecting patients with diabetes whose kidneys are beginning to fail.
"They will determine whether giving the patients large numbers of their own adult stem cells will lower blood sugar, increase secretion of insulin from the pancreas and improve the function of the kidney."
An estimated 2.2 million people in the UK have diabetes, and the numbers are growing.
Of this total, around 250,000 have insulin-dependent, or Type 1 diabetes.
The rest have Type 2 diabetes, which is closely associated with obesity.
Dr Angela Wilson, research director at Diabetes UK, said: "This is interesting work in an exciting area of diabetes research.
"Theoretically, pancreatic beta cells produced from a patient's own bone marrow could be used to treat diabetes, overcoming the requirement for immunosuppression following islet transplantation.
"However, a way to prevent transplanted cells from being destroyed by the body is needed as this is why Type 1 diabetes develops in the first place."
It infuriates us to no end that all the attention (and push for funding) is on embryonic stem cell research (no cures). Attention should be on adult stem cell research (72 cures) where progress is being made without killing human life!
No cures for embryonic stem cell research, but an awful lot of tumors.
And a plethora of MSM and politician attention. Adult stem cells...who cares? It just makes me mad.
From the mad department, that makes two of us.
Expect real treatments to use the patient's own stem cells, thus avoiding transplant issues, and greatly simplifying regulation.
And there's the whole thing in a nutshell! If you are using the stems cells of the patient, you can't slap a patent on it and charge $9385747348575873.79 per dose!
That's one of the highlights of this research, IMO. No immunosuppression.
I pray every day for a cure to be found.
It's late and I need rest. Adios until tomorrow.
My 12 yr old son was diagnosed 3 years ago. I asked him one day if he thought it was OK to kill embryos to get stem cells to someday, maybe, but not for sure cure his diabetes.
He said, "Why would you kill someone to allow me to live? Jesus did that once, and that was enough for me?"
I'm type II. This is quite interesting.
"And there's the whole thing in a nutshell! If you are using the stems cells of the patient, you can't slap a patent on it and charge $9385747348575873.79 per dose!"
I broke the code, and have been saying this for years. Follow the money...
Thanks for posting it. I saw it on BBC and was going to post it, but didn't get around to it.
It's very interesting article and it seems the results are very promising.
PING
bump & a ping
ping
"I'm type II"
Try to stop eating sugar, refined white flour and things made with them. Add some exercise, and it will go a long way toward the problem.
I know you must worry, and think of the future, so let me tell you this:
ous son was diagnosed 20 years ago. He was 8 1/2. Despite some pretty rocky times, his control is excellent, and has been for years. He's 6'1", & very strong . He went on the pump about 8 years ago...he just got married...and he runs, cycles in the Rockies, participating in all sorts of demanding races. He's
I've been thinking about this a lot the past few days, because his bride's youngest nephew was just diagnosed last week. The little boy is only 3.
I do appreciate all that's going on with the research, and the effort of many to get the word out on which research is productive, and which is not.
Reading, hearing about all the distortions really just adds to the distress and heartbreak which all these chronic diseases bring with them.
It would still cost money to have this kind of treatment, regardless of whether the treatment protocol / product was patented or not. this is not the crux the of the matter at all.
Zach is going through the beginning stages of puberty. His readings are all over the place. His A1C came back around 9.0 last week which is extremely unusal since he has been close to 7-7.5 most of the time. Two days ago he went to bed around 140, a little higher than his target range of 120. We woke him up and he was shaking and lathargic. Tested him and he was 27. He is also on the pump. Looks like another change in his basil rate is due. Doc said puberty would wreak havoc on his rates.
As far as diabetes goes, he doesn't let it interfere with having a normal life. He plays Basketball and baseball. Swimming is no problem either. He goes to camp every year at Cedar Lake Bible Conference Center and Moses Cheeks Diabetes Basketball Camp sponsored by the Bulls. This year we put him on a plane to New York to go to Word of Life Camp up in Schroon Lake. He won the WOL Steadfast Award which gave him the free week at camp.
His outlook on life is this: He will not let his diabetes deter him from accomplishing all that God has for him to do.
I don't worry about him too much. He has great faith in a great God and that was the first and most important thing he needed to know in life. Everything else is in God's hands. No man dies before the appointed time that God has given him. My son knows this. He is determined to make the most of his time on earth. Cure or not.
Praise God for your son! He has faced his diabetes head on. I will pray for him that his determination remains strong.
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