Breakthrough: Could pancreatic cells reverse Type 1 diabetes?

Insulin-producing pancreas cells could be the key to helping people suffering from Type 1 diabetes.

The new treatment could see an avoidance in blood sugar drops and provide glycemic control that could help control the disease and the life-threatening effects it has on diabetes sufferers. Those that live with severe hypoglycemia could benefit the most from this treatment, according to The New York Times.

The procedure would see the islet cells from donor pancreases transplanted into another person. The pancreas of someone with diabetes does not work properly resulting in the inhibition of insulin release that can potentially cause severe hypoglycemic events where the sufferer is unable to treat themselves.

The research undertaken by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and published in the journal Diabetes Care, studied 48 participants who had a severe form of Type 1 diabetes that could lead to seizures or death. Each individual received at least one round of islet cell transplantation treatment and the results found that 88 percent dramatically reversed the amount of severe hypoglycemic events and glucose levels even rose to normal.

After two years, 71 percent of the participants still showed continuing success showing that this treatment has the potential to change a lot of people’s lives and Dr. Bernhard Hering of the University of Minnesota, who is the lead author of the study, is optimistic that this will be beneficial to the right patients.

“Cell-based diabetes therapy is real and works and offers tremendous potential for the right patient.”

In a press release, the director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Griffin Rodgers states that the results are encouraging but the risks still need to be monitored and assessed.

The team are continuing to follow and monitor the current participants to assess whether or not there are any long-term effects from this treatment.