A patient suffering from severe type-1 diabetes was supposedly cured by Chinese experts through the use of stem cell therapy, marking a first of its kind.
A 25-year-old woman’s blood sugar levels naturally stabilised after 2.5 months following a minimally invasive operation; she had been suffering from it for more than a decade before that. Researchers from Peking University and Tianjin First Central Hospital completed the brief procedure in just 30 minutes.
The accomplishment was documented in the journal Cell and used islets produced from chemically induced pluripotent stem cells (CiPSCs). They transplanted the expanded pluripotent stem cells back into the patient’s body after reprogramming her adipose tissue into islet cells. Since these cells originated from the patient, no immune rejection occurred.
This patient underwent two liver transplants, both of which were successful, and one pancreatic islet transplant that was unsuccessful. 75 days after surgery, she no longer needed insulin since her fasting blood glucose levels were normal. There were no issues associated with the transplant, and her blood sugar levels stayed constant 98% of the time, for one year following the procedure.
In the future, additional clinical trials with CiPSC islet transplants could pave the way for improvement in diabetes management.
