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Diabetics using stem-cell therapy have been able to stop taking insulin injections for the first time, after their bodies started to produce the hormone naturally again.

In a breakthrough trial, 15 young patients with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes were given drugs to suppress their immune systems followed by transfusions of stem cells drawn from their own blood.

The results show that insulin-dependent diabetics can be freed from reliance on needles by an injection of their own stem cells. The therapy could signal a revolution in the treatment of the condition, which affects more than 300,000 Britons.

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Originally posted by Belle:
I think what stihl was intending was to head off a stem cell debate, by pointing out that those opposed to embryonic stem cell research need not oppose this. "Stem cell research" has become synonomous with "using cells from aborted fetuses" in many people's minds, which is unfortuate because there is a lot happening in the stem cell research field with adult stem cells and cells from donated unbilical cord blood.

In other words, it's not as if the story isn't important - it certainly is - but by pointing out what type of research was used we may avoid cluttering up this thread with embryonic stem cell debates which are not relevant to this particular story.

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posted by Lyrhawn:
So it's a one time process, rather than a continual therapy?

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“As a research scientist I am always hesitant to speak of a cure, but the initial results have been good and show the importance of conducting more trials,” Dr Burt said.

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It sounds very much like a one shot deal, with the effecs lasting at least a year, and up to three (the length of the study.) It definitely doesn't sound like the kind of thing you'd do once a month, or once a week.
 

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Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
 
Impressive.
 

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Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
 
I have the same reservations that the authors of the study do, but it is breathlessly encouraging.

I'm also not surprised that this research came out of the UK. I don't think it could have been done through drug money funding (not that all trials in the US are funded via private interests, of course -- just that the focus of research in general tends to be different in other countries). Canada gave us the Edmonton protocol of pancreatic islet cell transplantation; the UK gives us stem cell research on curing type I diabetes.

Thanks, guys.

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Edited to add: My reservations include that the followup has only been for 3 years. This is promising (and much better than 6 months!) but there is a known "honeymoon phase" that a lot of recently diagnosed diabetics go through, where the correction of the acute blood sugars allows the pancreas to temporarily start making insulin again. This can last from weeks to months, or even years.

So we know that what happens in the first few years after diagnosis isn't necessarily predictive of what will happen longterm. It may be that these stem cells strengthen and prolong the honeymoon phase -- still a good thing, certainly! -- but may not affect longterm morbidity and mortality.

[ April 12, 2007, 10:09 AM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]
 

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Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
 

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Originally posted by stihl1:
Bingo.

And because anyone who didn't bother to read the whole story, or just read the quoted parts above, might seek to turn it into an embryonic stem cell debate. And because, imo, it's bad reporting to only mention it briefly at the near end of the story.

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In a breakthrough trial, 15 young patients with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes were given drugs to suppress their immune systems followed by transfusions of stem cells drawn from their own blood.

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A study by British scientists in November also reported that stem-cell injections could repair organ damage in heart attack victims.

But research using the most versatile kind of stem cells — those acquired from human embryos — is currently opposed by powerful critics, including President Bush.

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A new diabetes treatment developed at Northwestern University has allowed some patients to stop taking insulin for more than two years, but it also has spurred ethical objections from researchers who say the trial put Brazilian children at unnecessary risk.

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Yet some experts doubted the protocol could have been approved in this country. Weir, like several other scientists reached for this report, said the risks of Burt's technique are high enough that he probably would not have approved the experiment if he had been responsible for reviewing it.

The problem is this: Although early-onset diabetes can have dire long-term effects such as blindness and heart disease, many patients succeed in managing their condition with insulin and lead normal lives for decades. That makes it harder to justify the risks of stem cell transplantation, which Burt has used before on diseases with few other treatment options, such as lupus or multiple sclerosis.

The immune suppression used in stem-cell transplants can cause infections and even death. None of the patients in the Brazilian study died, though one had severe pneumonia that required supplementary oxygen.

Several experts said the risks could have made it difficult to get the study past American institutional review boards -- groups responsible for ensuring that research is safe and ethical.

"This is an incredibly invasive therapy to be tried on children without knowing if anyone will benefit from it," said Dr. Lainie Ross, associate director of the University of Chicago's MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics.

Ross said she would not have authorized such a study unless it enrolled only adults. She said research ethics guidelines state that risky experimental therapies should not be used on children unless it's impossible to test them on adult subjects -- and in this case, adult diabetes patients were available.

In fact, Burt said his original protocol included a cutoff age of 18, but a Brazilian review board changed it to allow younger patients in the study. Ages of the subjects ranged from 14 to 31, with eight participants younger than 18.

Burt said the study was done in Brazil not to avoid the need for an American review board, but because he couldn't find an American diabetes expert interested in pursuing his idea. He said Northwestern review board officials told him his collaboration with the Brazilian team was fine so long as he was not directly involved in patient care.

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