New breakthrough in diabetes treatment

People with diabetes may not need to take insulin or any other medication. For the first time, a report by a group of Chinese scientists and clinicians has raised hope for those who are "fighting" the disease.

Regardless of the type of diabetes, failing to maintain normal blood sugar levels over time can lead to serious side effects, including heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease. Photo: Shutterstock

The 59-year-old patient had suffered from type 2 diabetes for 25 years, putting him at risk of serious complications. He had a kidney transplant in 2017, but had lost most of the islet function that helps control blood sugar and required multiple insulin injections a day.

In July 2021, the patient underwent a transplant of the modified cells. Amazingly, 11 weeks later, he stopped needing insulin and oral medications to control his blood sugar, and completely stopped a year later.

Follow-up tests showed that the patient's pancreatic islet function had been effectively restored, and the patient has now been completely weaned off insulin for 33 months, according to Teo Yin Hao, lead researcher at Shanghai Changzheng Hospital.

The medical breakthrough, achieved by a team of doctors and researchers from institutions including Shanghai Changzheng Hospital, the Center of Excellence for Molecular Cell Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai-based Renji Hospital, was published in the journal Cell Discovery on April 30.

“I think this study represents an important step forward in the field of cell therapy for diabetes,” said Timothy Kieffer, a professor in the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

Diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the way the body converts food into energy. What is consumed is broken down into glucose (a simple sugar) and released into the bloodstream. Insulin is needed to regulate blood sugar levels. Diabetes is caused when the body does not produce enough insulin or does not use the insulin it produces effectively.

There are several types of diabetes, of which type 2 is the most common, affecting nearly 90% of people with the disease. The cause is largely related to diet and develops over time.

Regardless of the type of diabetes, failure to maintain normal blood sugar levels over time can lead to serious side effects, including heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “there is no cure for diabetes.”

Along with weight loss, healthy eating and medication, insulin is the mainstay of treatment for some people, but this requires regular injections and monitoring.

Scientists around the world are studying islet transplantation as a promising alternative, primarily by creating islet-like cells from human stem cell cultures. Now, after more than a decade of work, a team of Chinese scientists has moved a step closer.

The team used and programmed the patient's own peripheral blood mononuclear cells, which were then converted into “seed cells” and regenerated pancreatic islet tissue in an artificial environment, Yin said.

While preclinical data from Kieffer's group support the use of stem cell-derived islets to treat type 2 diabetes, the report by Yin and colleagues is, to Kieffer's knowledge, “the first evidence in humans.”

Yin said the breakthrough was another step forward in the relatively new field of regenerative medicine – where the body’s ability to regenerate is harnessed to treat disease . “Our technology has matured and it has pushed the boundaries in the field of regenerative medicine to treat diabetes.”

Globally, China has the highest number of people with diabetes. According to the International Diabetes Federation, the country currently has 140 million people with diabetes, of whom about 40 million depend on lifelong insulin injections.

China has a disproportionately high diabetes rate, according to Huang Yanzhong, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. In a paper last year, he pointed out that while China accounts for 17.7% of the world’s population, the number of people with diabetes in the country accounts for a staggering quarter of the global total, placing a huge health burden on the government.

If this cell treatment ultimately works, Kieffer said, “it could free patients from the burden of chronic medications, improve health and quality of life, and reduce health care costs.”

But to get there, he added, studies in more patients are needed based on the findings of this Chinese study.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/lieu-phap-te-bao-dot-pha-moi-trong-dieu-tri-benh-tieu-duong-272767.html