Life Facts - Type 1 Diabetes patients successfully treated with their own stem cells

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a group of patients with Type 1 diabetes, were experimentally treated in Brazil with their own stem cells. Thirteen out of the fifteen young people who received transplants using their own stem cells were able to go without insulin for extended periods, ranging from six months to three years. The patients involved were between the ages of 14 to 31 and newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. One of the patients tested, a 30 year old male, has not taken insulin since the transplant which was 3 years ago. Much more extensive testing and development of this treatment method is needed. Yet with as many as 3 million struck with this disease in the United States alone, this medical first, using ethical sources of stem cells, is a huge step towards a cure.

For more information read these articles in the Houston Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times.

Tags: stem cell research, type 1 diabetes