Human Bone Marrow repairs Diabetes Complications
16th Nov 2006, 23:04 GMT
Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Research, Daily News That's right, look no further than the home team for stem cell supplies. Scientists are reporting they have used stem cells from human bone marrow to repair defective insulin-producing pancreatic cells, responsible for diabetes in mice. The discovery was made by researchers at Tulane University in New Orleans. In addition to repairing defective pancreatic cells, the treatment showed to arrest kidney damage resulting from diabetes. Stem cells are unspecialized cells, having the capacity to turn into any kind of tissue in the body. The Tulane researchers treated diabetic mice that had high blood sugar and damaged kidneys. They treated one group of mice with stem cells. After three weeks they were shown to be producing higher levels of mouse insulin than untreated mice and had lower blood sugar levels. The injections also appeared to stop damaging changes taking place in the glomeruli, the bulb-like structures in the kidneys that filter the blood. The doctor's overseeing the research plan to carry out trials in patients with diabetes. Physicians will be selecting patients with diabetes whose kidneys are beginning to fail. They hope to determine whether giving the patients large numbers of their own adult stem cells will lower blood sugar, increase secretion of insulin from the pancreas and improve the function of the kidney. Pancreatic beta cells produced from a patient's own bone marrow could be used to treat diabetes, without the need for immunosuppression. Immunosuppression is used to prevent transplanted cells from being destroyed by the body. This is why Type 1 diabetes develops in the first place. This is precisely the work Dr. Faustman has been pioneering with Massachusetts General Hospital. I'm a little scared to ask, but has anybody witnessed how they extract bone marrow in the first place? Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments