World-First Stem Cell Treatment Reverses Diabetes for a Patient in China, Study Suggests

Last year, cell biologist Deng Hongkui and his team at Peking University in Beijing took cells from a woman with type 1 diabetes, reprogrammed them into blood sugar-regulating cell clusters and injected them back into her abdomen.

The procedure was a world first—no other type 1 diabetes patient had been treated with their own cells. Two and a half months later, the young woman started producing enough of her own insulin to not need injections of the hormone anymore. Now, more than a year has passed since the treatment, and in another world first, her ability to produce insulin has remained stable. The results of the trial were recently published in the journal Cell.

“I can eat sugar now,” the woman, who lives in Tianjin, China, and wishes to remain anonymous, tells Nature News’ Smriti Mallapaty. “I enjoy eating everything—especially hotpot.”

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks its own insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, which are found in clusters called islets. These cells secrete hormones to regulate blood sugar levels. This immune response results in chronic high blood sugar for diabetes patients, which can lead to other serious health conditions. China currently has the highest number of diabetes cases in the world.

...https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/world-first-stem-cell-treatment-reverses-diabetes-for-a-patient-in-china-study-suggests-180985198/