Curing Diabetes Through Stem Cells
The research in stem cells and their ability in curing diseases is simply a mind-boggling achievement in the entire arena of medical science. But a very few people know that stem cells can also be used to treat diabetes. Though it is not completely successful in eradicating diabetes, Stem cells diabetes therapy has freed many patients of type 1 diabetes from the constraints of daily insulin injections.
The type 1 diabetes is a condition in which the immune system rapidly destroys the insulin generating cells present in the pancreas. In Stem cells diabetes therapy, you undergo a transplantation process known as ‘autologous non-myeloblative hematopoietic stem cell transplant’ (HSCT). In this type of stem cells diabetes therapy, stem cells derived from your own bone marrow are collected from the blood stream. Along with this, you also undergo chemotherapy to partly destroy your own bone marrow cells.
The healthy stem cells collected from your bone marrow are then replaced with the damaged cells. This process in stem cells diabetes therapy resets your immune system, which in turn stops the attacks to pancreas and thus reduces the effect of type 1 diabetes largely. This transplantation process is similar to transplant process used to cure cancer.
The other method used in the stem cells diabetes therapy is the islet cell transplantation. In this, stem cells are used to develop islets (cells that make insulin). Once developed, these islets made from stem cells then begin to make insulin and thus help to reduce the effects of type 1 diabetes. These types of stem cells also release a diabetic from the clutches of kidney diseases, heart diseases, eye a/or nerve damage that happen due to the high levels of glucose.
However, as every coin has a flip side, stem cells diabetes therapy has some drawbacks too. This therapy is effective, only when the condition in type 1 diabetes is caught within six weeks of diagnosis. If you conduct stem cells diabetes transplant after this period, then this stem cells diabetes therapy may not be effective as your pancreas are severely damaged and you already have complications from high blood sugar levels. Also, the reluctance of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicates that the islet cell transplantation hinders the curing of diabetes through stem cells largely.
Moreover, in the US, the curing of diabetes through stem cells diabetes therapy has taken a huge setback due to the non-availability of donors. It is estimated that only 7,000 deceased donors are available in the US and less than half of these donors are viable for pancreas transplantation.
Considering its effectiveness and its intrinsic features of making diabetics independent of insulin shots, stem cells diabetes therapy is really a boon for patients that suffer from type 1 diabetes and it can be regarded as another new gem after adult stem cells, bone marrow stem cells and umbilical stem cells, in the crown of stem cells therapies.
To know more about stem cell diabetes, log on to www.ukstemcellbank.org.uk/.
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