|
Posted on 04/11/2007 8:54:44 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Diabetics appear to have been cured with a one-off treatment that rebuilds their immune system, according to a new study.
The technique, which uses patients' own bone marrow cells, has freed 14 of 15 patients with type 1 diabetes from their dependence on insulin medication.
So far, participants in the trial have gone 18 months without insulin therapy following the procedure, on average. One patient has lasted three years without needing such injections.
In patients with type 1 diabetes, which typically strikes in early childhood or adolescence, the immune system appears to erroneously attack cells in the pancreas that produce the hormone insulin. Without insulin, blood sugar levels in the body spiral out of control. People with diabetes receive insulin therapy, often in the form of self-injected shots, to keep their blood sugar levels under control.
Wipe out
Scientists have speculated that "resetting" the immune system might stop it from attacking the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
Julio Voltarelli, at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, and colleagues recruited 15 people aged 14 to 31 years who had recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Roughly 60% to 80% of these patients' insulin-producing cells had been destroyed by the time of their diagnosis, and all needed regular insulin shots.
The researchers removed bone marrow stem cells from the patients, who were then given drugs such as cytotoxan to wipe out their immune cells. Without an immune system, the patients were vulnerable to infection and so they were given antibiotics and kept in an isolation ward. They participants did not undergo radiation treatment – as leukaemia patients often do as part of a bone marrow transplant – and so had fewer side effects and less risk of organ damage.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
And not a single embryo had to be destroyed for this. Wonderful news!
Wonder if they can do the same thing for Cancer patients.
Ping for later read
|
bttt
Thank you for posting that article!
Great news. btt
Ping.
But what about Type 2?
this might well have implications for arthritis and a wide variety of other diseases that involve immune systems gone awry
Lose weight and work out, and most of Type 2 diabetes goes away.
It worked for me! I've lost more than 90lbs. and I no longer have Type 2 diabetes. I don't think this study actually looked at Type 2 though.
Application for MS?
==> “Wonder if they can do the same thing for Cancer patients.” <==
Cytoxan was one of 4 anti-cancer drugs used in my wife’s treatment for breast cancer in 2005. Following surgery, over the next 4 months she had 4 doses of cytoxan and adriamycin, followed by 4 doses of taxol and gemcitibene. One month later, she had 25 X-ray treatments, then 8 doses of direct electron beam radiation.
It sort of works. I have controlled my blood glucose for over two years with diet and exercise, but still have severe neuropathy in both feet. And I still am hypersensitive to high-glycemic foods. If I have even a few small pieces of potato in a stew, or more that a teaspoon of cornstarch-laden sauce, or a tablespoon of rice at a chinese restaurant, I can expect 40 or 50 extra points on my meter that night.
When I behave myself, my average glucose is about 100, checked twice daily. Last night we had our Mensa meeting at a Mexican restaurant and I overdosed on chips and salsa. Hours later, my glucose was 136. But I really would like to have feeling back in my feet, so I will be more restrained next month.
LORD knows I hope so.
The Pharmaceutical industry won’t like this at all - they make billions upon billions over diabetes drugs and supplies. I sure hope for my 20 year old daughter who has had type I (diagnosed 9/2/05) that this becomes a reality.
has freed 14 of 15 patients with type 1 diabetes from their dependence on insulin medication.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
We should start a betting pool: how long before (a) some Democrat claims that this happened in Brazil instead of the U.S. because "Bush banned stem cell research," and (b) the Associated Press trumpets the Democrat's statement verbatim, without correcting or fact-checking the Democrat in any way.