A 25-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes started producing her own insulin less than three months after receiving a transplant of reprogrammed stem cells1. She is the first person with the disease to be treated using cells that were extracted from her own body.

“I can eat sugar now,” said the woman, who lives in Tianjing, on a call with Nature. It has been more than a year since the transplant, and, she says, “I enjoy eating everything — especially hotpot.” The woman asked to remain anonymous to protect her privacy.

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

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[–] SelfProgrammed@lemmy.today 40 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

A link so you don't have to take this text post's word for it:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03129-3

Non-paywalled link:

https://stemcellres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13287-024-04036-0

[–] admin@science.social 13 points 5 months ago

@SelfProgrammed@lemmy.today Thank you for linking to this!

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 25 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

This is cool but I can’t help but feel slightly disappointed at the slow pace of research in this field. The cause of type 1 diabetes is well understood and we knew this treatment was possible for decades but it still took until now to finally make it happen. Gene therapy has the possibility of curing almost any disease, at least in theory, but the amount of time even simple treatments like this have taken to develop makes me feel we won’t live to see such advances.

[–] MossyFeathers@pawb.social 29 points 5 months ago

What's that? A cure? I don't know what you're talking about *raises insulin prices another 1000%*

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The cause is well understood? What is the cause?

[–] Waldowal@lemmy.world 8 points 5 months ago

Genetic disposition for the body to produce antibodies that attack and kill insulin producing beta cells. There are 2 types, GAD and TSH antibodies. They are normally present at birth, but sometimes get triggered later in life by a cold/flu. There are a few mysteries in the exact mechanics, but I agree, overall, it is pretty well understood.

[–] IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

but can it reverse me being dead inside?

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee -2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I like the joke, but this isn't the time for it.
This could save lives.
I'm also holding my breath to see if it's banned because stupid people think stem cells = bad for some reason.

[–] tenchiken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 5 months ago

I get where you're coming from, but a little dark humor is still engaging thought surrounding the news.

And I do agree that we should be aware and concerned about the same kind of idiots doing the anti vax shuffle with this over stem cells.

We can apparently potentially cure diabetes, but stupid is incurable.

[–] johnefrancis@lemmy.ca 7 points 5 months ago

"cures" involving immunosuppression have been around for a long time. It's not a good outcome for most, the side effects of immunosuppression are worse than taking insulin.

The main patient discussed uses immunosuppression but later in the article they discuss some progress that doesn't involve halting the immune system. That's the potential breakthrough.

[–] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

Only ten more years until a cure...