Diabetes is a disease impacting the body’s inability to produce any or enough insulin to balance glucose levels within the body.
Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are currently treated with regular blood sugar testing, insulin injections and drug therapy, but that might be changing very soon…
Harvard Stem Cell Institute has announced the development of a possible cure for diabetes. Co-director Doug Melton of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute has cultivated a process to procure an “unlimited number of beta cells…”
Beta cells are insulin-producing cells, which reside in the pancreas. The stem-derived cells will be used to replace a patient’s beta cells in order to treat diabetes.
The new program is a team effort comprised of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Bringham and Women’s Hospital, the Joslin Diabetes Center in collaboration with Semina Therapeutics and the Dana-Farber Cancer institute. The group will begin their first trial in three to four years. The trial will test the safety and efficacy of the stem-derived beta cells on a small group of patients who have had their pancreas surgically removed.
This has the potential to be an epic win in the battle against diabetes, which currently threatens the lives and wellbeing of 30 million Americans.
Read more here.
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