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Breakthrough Stem Cell Transplant Offers Insulin Independence for Type 1 Diabetes Patient

NextEdge Admin

27 Sep 2024

2 min 44 sec

A 25-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes has become insulin-independent after receiving a transplant of reprogrammed stem cells derived from her own body. The groundbreaking procedure, conducted by Deng Hongkui and his team at Peking University, is the first of its kind for treating type 1 diabetes. The researchers extracted cells from three patients, reverted them to a pluripotent state, and used chemically induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to generate insulin-producing islets. These islets were transplanted into the woman’s abdominal muscles—a novel site for such transplants, which allows for easy monitoring via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Two-and-a-half months after the transplant, the woman began producing sufficient insulin, eliminating the need for external insulin injections. She has maintained stable blood glucose levels for more than a year, with over 98% of her day spent within the target range. The researchers are expanding the study to include 10–20 additional participants, as the preliminary results are highly promising for the other two individuals in the trial. However, more research is needed to confirm the long-term efficacy of the procedure, especially in preventing immune system rejection without immunosuppressants.

This approach, using a patient’s own cells, offers hope for avoiding immune rejection, a common challenge with islet transplants from donors. However, scaling this personalized therapy remains a challenge. Other research groups are pursuing donor-derived stem cell treatments. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has reported success in using donor-derived embryonic stem cells to create insulin-producing islets in type 1 diabetes patients, with some participants achieving insulin independence. Future developments focus on making these treatments more accessible and minimizing the need for immune-suppressing drugs, thereby offering a potential cure for millions living with diabetes.