| Stem cells could spell end for diabetes jabs |
Hopes have been raised of a new treatment to free thousands
of diabetes sufferers from the burden of daily insulin
injections.
Scientists revealed findings of a study which shows that 15
young patients with type one diabetes overcame their
dependence on insulin after being treated with their own
stem cells.
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A new scientific breakthrough could spell the end of insulin
injections
The researchers say it could herald the start of a
revolution in treating type one diabetes, which affects
300,000 patients in Britain.
Type one diabetics have to regularly inject themselves with
the hormone insulin to control their blood sugar levels.
The new research has emerged a month after it was revealed
that the number of British children under the age of five
who had developed type one diabetes had risen fivefold in
the past 20 years.
A team of US and Brazilian scientists gave the patients
powerful drugs to suppress their immune systems followed by
injections of stem cells drawn from their own blood.
After treatment, 14 of the 15 were able to put away their
injection pens after losing their insulin dependence.
And so far, one patient has been free of insulin dependency
for 35 months.
Study leader Dr Julio Voltarelli from the University of Sao
Paolo said he had rushed out his findings because of the
positive results.
He said: "Very encouraging results were obtained in a small
number of patients with early-onset disease.
"Ninety-three per cent of patients achieved different
periods of insulin dependence and treatment-related toxicity
was low, with no mortality."
Type one diabetes is caused by insulin-producing beta cells
in the pancreas being destroyed by the patient's own immune
system.
Stem cells are immature cells that can develop to become a
range of different adult cells.
In the latest trial, patients' immune systems were
suppressed using powerful drugs - to eliminate the white
blood cells that were attacking the pancreas.
The patient was then injected with a chemical which loosened
stem cells from their bone marrow. These were filtered out,
collected and later injected back into the patient's
bloodstream.
Some of the 14 patients responded more quickly than others,
according to the study published in the Journal of the
American Medical Association.
Researchers believe the stem cells developed into new white
blood cells which did not attack the pancreatic beta cells.
But they admit there are other possible interpretations -
the stem cells could have developed into new beta cells in
the pancreas. Or something might have happened to stop the
existing beta cells being destroyed.
The study only included a small number of patients between
14 and 31, and did not monitor their progress for very long.
Because of the nature of the study, it is not known if
further stem cell injections would be required at a later
date.
And unlike most medical trials there was no comparison with
patients left untreated or only given drugs to suppress
their immune system.
Malcolm Alison, professor of stem cell biology at the Queen
Mary School of Medicine and Dentistry in London, said: "In
principle this is a cure because these people developed
long-term control of their glucose levels.
"But these patients haven't been followed up long enough, so
we cannot yet be sure."
Dr Ian Frame, research manager at Diabetes UK, said: "This
is interesting new research that demonstrates that there may
have been a substantial improvement in beta cell fundtion.
However we would wish to avoid false hope based on the very
preliminary nature of these results.
"This study had a very small number of participants and
importantly did not include a randomised control group for
comparison of results.
"Also, as the researchers say, those who took part have not
been sufficiently followed up to find out whether or not the
improvements have continued.
"All these issues need to be addressed through more research
before there are any conclusive findings in this area."
There have been several pointers towards this latest
discovery.
Studies have alreday shown that bone marrow transplants
given to cancer patients also seemed to reverse certain
auto-immune disease such as type one diabetes. Bone marrow
is full of stem cells.
Later it was found that treating patients with stem cells
from their own blood could benefit individuals
with a range of auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid
arthritis and Chron's disease
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By DANIEL MARTIN |
