And to think..there are bone-headed politicians that would try to prevent this research from going forward...
"Working toward a cure for diabetes
Transplants of insulin-producing cells paving the way
By Robert Bazell
NBC NEWS
May 14 — In what is widely considered a medical breakthrough, transplants of insulin-producing cells are allowing a handful of people with Type I diabetes to quit taking insulin shots. Many believe these experiments will lead to the first use of stem cells to cure a disease.
FOR CINDY Isasi, the most frightening time is when her daughters see her pass out.
“Can you imagine being nine-years-old and you’re freaking out because you think your mom is never going to wake up?” Isasi says.
Like one million other Americans, Isasi suffers from Type I diabetes — an autoimmune disease sometimes called juvenile diabetes, although it can strike anytime in life.
Her body cannot make insulin to burn sugar. Isasi tries to keep it under control with frequent insulin injections, but often it doesn’t work and she loses consciousness.
The diabetes also puts her at risk for heart disease, blindness and other health problems.
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But now Isasi has great hope that a breakthrough procedure will end her nightmare — transplants of insulin producing cells she receives as part of a clinical trial at the Diabetes Research Center in Miami.
Ken Tenbusch, one of the first volunteers, was suffering just like Isasi. Now he no longer needs insulin.
Almost 17 million Americans have diabetes, a disease that affects the body's ability to manage glucose, or blood sugar. Click above to learn more about the disease.
Type 1: Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that destroys the body's ability to produce insulin, a hormone that helps the body stash various nutrients in cells. This form of the disease, which most often develops in childhood, accounts for 5 to 10 percent of cases.
Type 2: Type 2 diabetes usually develops in adulthood and is caused by either the body's inability to make enough, or to effectively use, insulin. This form of diabetes accounts for 90 to 95 percent of cases.
Women can develop a form of type 2 diabetes during pregnancy called gestational diabetes. Approximately 40 percent of women with gestational diabetes who are obese before pregnancy develop type 2 diabetes within four years.
Symptoms:
Frequent urination
Constant sensation of thirst
Unexplained weight loss
Extreme hunger
Sudden vision changes
Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
Extreme fatigue
Slow healing sores
Frequent infections
Risk factors: People are more likely to develop diabetes if they are obese or have a family history of the disorder. And as age increases, so does the risk of diabetes. In addition, certain groups are at increased risk for diabetes, including blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans.
Prevention: Some cases cannot be prevented. However, maintaining a healthy weight and exercising regularly may help protect against the development of type 2 diabetes in many people.
Testing: The American Diabetes Association recommends blood glucose screenings beginning at age 45, or younger if someone has a family history of diabetes, is obese or has other risk factors.
At least a third of people with type 2 diabetes go untreated because they don’t know they have the condition. Many of these people will be diagnosed with diabetes only after they have developed serious complications, such as heart attack, kidney disease or impaired eyesight.
Treatment: People with type 1 diabetes must take daily insulin shots to live and are advised to carefully watch their diets.
People with type 2 diabetes may be able to control their blood sugar through diet and exercise. Others may need to take oral diabetes medicines to lower their blood glucose levels. If this doesn't work, insulin may be necessary.
“Unbelievable is all I can say,” Tenbusch says. “Just to have your life being back to normal. You can hardly even put a price tag on it.”
Here’s how it works: The researchers obtain donated pancreas tissue, which contains the cells that make insulin. They remove those cells and keep them alive in lab dishes.
Because diabetes destroys a patient’s pancreas, doctors transfuse the new cells into the liver — where they turn out insulin as needed.
Dr. Rodolfo Alejandro, head of the cell transplant program, says it has been a long struggle to get the technique to work.
“We have been attempting this since 1985 and finally we have something that works everyday,” Alejandro says.
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For now cell transplants are not a cure for everyone — there are severe limits on the number of donated organs and patients must take drugs to keep their body from rejecting the transplanted tissue.
But the big push is to use stem cells — master cells that can be coaxed in the lab into becoming any type of cell, including insulin-producing cells — to grow unlimited quantities of tissue. That could offer a cure for Type I diabetes.
The research is well underway. What was once just a dream it is rapidly becoming a real possibility for Cindy Isasi and a million other Americans with Type I diabetes. |
