In key breakthrough, woman with stem cell implant beats Type-1 diabetes

New Delhi: Chinese researchers have successfully reversed Type-1 diabetes in a patient using a novel stem cell therapy, according to a study published in the journal Cell this week, in what is a breakthrough for now just management of the disease but how stem cells can be used as therapies.

The treatment involves transplanting insulin-producing cells derived from the patient’s own chemically induced pluripotent stem cells (CiPSCs) beneath the abdominal wall. One year after the procedure, the patient has achieved sustained insulin independence and restored glycaemic control.

In other words, they have demonstrated treating a disease that is notoriously difficult to tackle, and by leveraging the biological promise of stem cells, which possess a unique ability to be turned into any kind of cell.

In doing so, the researchers demonstrated several breakthroughs. First is how the stem cells were created. Typically, such cells are harvested from embryos or bone marrow, which can be ethically controversial or more invasive. But in this case, the researchers used CiPSCs, which involves taking some of the patient’s regular body cells and turning them into special stem cells using chemicals in a sort of reprogramming to turn them into insulin producing cells.

Second, was in how the researchers deployed the stem cells — they put these new insulin-making cells under the skin of the patient’s belly.

James Shapiro, a transplant surgeon and researcher at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, told science journal Nature that the results of the surgery are stunning. “They’ve completely reversed diabetes in the patient, who was requiring substantial amounts of insulin beforehand.”

The experiment was in the first-in-human phase I clinical trial, conducted at an undisclosed medical centre in China.

According to the study, the 25-year-old woman began showing improvement 75 days after transplantation.

While the results are promising, the researchers involved said larger clinical trials are necessary to confirm the safety and efficacy of such treatment.

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