Cure For Diabetes?
American Diabetes Association Hopeful New Research Will Lead to End of
Insulin Injections
August 7th 2006
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A Cure? |
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Experts at the American Diabetes Association meeting say that early
symptoms of diabetes and heart disease should be aggressively treated.
Half of all Americans will become insulin resistant, placing them at
risk for diabetes.
The American Diabetes Association says that researchers are working on a
cure. They say that cells transplanted six months ago from pigs into
diabetic monkeys are alive and producing insulin. This is without the
need for immune-suppressing drugs.
So far the research has been done on rhesus monkeys. They injected the
monkeys, whose own pancreatic islets were destroyed, with encapsulate
cells taken from pigs. The good news is that the monkey’s immune
systems did not recognize the substance as foreign and did not try to
reject it.
Nathaniel Clark says “If there's evidence that rejection is not
occurring, despite no immune suppression, that's promising and
potentially important for the future." Clark is the vice president of
clinical affairs of the American Diabetes Association. He has seen the
study and has worked very closely with MicroIslet, the San Diego based
firm doing the research, and says that this is not yet a cure but is a
big step forward.
The researchers say that so far the monkeys have required about half the
insulin they needed before the transplant. Amazingly though, they say
that if the science can be developed to a point at which the animals no
longer need insulin injections, "then potentially, this could be a very
important finding."
The Diabetes Association says that efforts to transplant pancreatic
islets into patients with diabetes have had mixed results. Pancreatic
cells from cadavers are in short supply, and transplant recipients must
take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives, which can
cause serious side effects.
MicroIslet is hoping to begin clinical trials. They say that by taking
the cells from pigs raised under sterile conditions, the problem of
supply can be overcome. The process does not require major surgery to
implant the cells into the peritoneum. The peritoneum is the membrane
lining the abdominal region.
So far the cells have been functioning in the monkeys for six months.
Marsha Quinn
Writer
Books on Dieting
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