Stem Cell Transplantation Benefits Type 1 Diabetics

Filed in archive Research , Treatment on April 14, 2009

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A certain type of stem cell transplantation in majority of patients with type 1 diabetes resulted to them being insulin-free for several years.

Such were the findings of a new study:

Clinical evidence indicates that there is an inverse association between beta-cell (a type of cell in the pancreas that secretes insulin) preservation and function and chronic complications of type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM), and the higher the C-peptide levels (a byproduct of insulin production, made up of amino acids), the lower the incidence of some types of complications of type 1 DM.

A previous study found that autologous nonmyeloablative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in 15 patients with newly diagnosed type 1 DM resulted in the majority of patients becoming insulin free during the follow-up, which averaged about 19 months.

The said transplantation, called hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a procedure that uses a patient's own blood stem cells, involves the removal and treatment of the stem cells, and their return to the patient by intravenous injection.

Read more about this study from this article.