Stem Cell Treatment, what is it all about?

Recently lots of information has surfaced regarding a possible treatment for Type 1 Diabetes that could stop the need for daily insulin injections. This is really exciting news and this post can hopefully explain a little more about it.

What are stem cells?

A stem cell is a cell that has the ability to develop into a number of different cell types, it's like a blank cell that could transform and become a heart cell, lung cell or pancreas cell for examplei.

Where do stem cells come from?

Stem cells can be acquired from a variety of sources, the best for the treatment of diabetes being foetal tissue, such as: Embryos, the placenta, the umbilical cord, bone marrow, blood cells and teeth.

What is stem cell research?

In recent years stem cell research has involved the growth of stem cells in the laboratory, in 2004 the University of Pittsburgh grew insulin producing beta cells in the lab.

Even more recently ViaCyte in San Diego have begun to work with Johnson and Johnson to further develop stem cell treatment, after successful trials in animals showed the treatment could eliminate the need for daily insulin injections.

The Treatment.

This type of therapy involves a semi-permeable capsule holding inside human pancreatic progenitor cells (stem cells). The progenitor cells turn into insulin producing cells during the therapy and they are protected from immune attack by being inside the capsule. This therapy is currently known as VC-01 therapy.

Currently this therapy is being tested in type 1 diabetics as part of the first step in clinical trials, they will have the capsule implanted under the skin and if this testing is successful the VC-01 therapy may become available within a couple of years.

The picture to the left shows what the VC-01 currently looks like. Last month, further progress was made in the fight against type 1 diabetes when Harvard researchers announced they were able to halt the disease for six months.

Further research.

In October 2014 a diabetic patient was implanted with an encapsulation system similar to the one described above, instead with insulin producting islet cells inside. This treatment is also being investigated in further trials and would allow patients to produce insulin without the need for injections.

As you can see this exciting research has some great prospects for the future treatment of diabetes and hopefully with further successful trials it could lead to the end of daily injections!