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First Successful Cell Transplant Cures Diabetes
Iphtashu Fitz writes "A few months ago the 50th anniversary of the first organ transplant was celebrated. Over those 50 years surgeons have learned how to sucessfully transplant many organs and other body parts. Now it seems that Japanese surgeons have added yet another successful transplant to the list, having recently transplanted insulin-generating cells, known as Islets of Langerhans from a mother to her diabetic daughter. Three months after the surgery both mother and daughter appear to be completely healthy. Although the daughter no longer needs insulin she still needs to take powerful drugs to keep her immune system from rejecting the new cells. Researchers also still don't know if this procedure would work in many people with type 1 diabetes since in many of those cases their own immune system has destroyed their Islet cells."
This procedure was, I believe, developed and first performed in Canada. The idea has been around for a few years.
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This isn't new, unfortunately. Islet cell transplants have been happening for many years now. The first cases I heard of were in Russia, using islet cells from aborted foetuses (I gather such things are more readily available in Russia). But they've been doing it on a small scale in the UK for years, too, with success.
I'm not sure why we haven't seen this become a mainstream solution yet, but personally, I'm not holding my breath for any of the diabetes solutions that get mentioned by news reporters regularly. News services seem to like to this story so much that they declare a new "cure" each year... except that it'll be years before most people get it, if they get it.
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/artic/pancreatic_isl et_transplantation_niddk.htm
"Scientists have made many advances in islet transplantation over the past 25 years. Dr. James Shapiro and colleagues at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, have used a new procedure called the Edmonton Protocol to treat eight patients with type 1 diabetes. These patients have been completely freed from insulin injections since the first transplant in mid-1999."
and:
http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/cs/programs/pancr eas/research.html
"The University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada was the first group to successfully maintain islet transplants using islets from two organ donors and a new steroid free immunosuppressive regimen."
and:
http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/pancreaticis let/
"Scientists have made many advances in islet transplantation in recent years. Since reporting their findings in the June 2000 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, have continued to use a procedure called the Edmonton protocol to transplant pancreatic islets into people with type 1 diabetes. A multicenter clinical trial of the Edmonton protocol for islet transplantation is currently under way, and results will be announced in several years. According to the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN), as of June 2003, about 50 percent of the patients have remained insulin-free up to 1 year after receiving a transplant. A clinical trial of the Edmonton protocol is also being conducted by the ITN, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International."
Still... an amazing area of research and one hopes it leads to a more generally available cure for diabetes (without all the immunosuppresive side effects).
If you read on to the bottom of the wikipedia article:
And following that link for Denise Faustman, you'll see that she is noted for transplanting islet cells.
So, I don't think joinlee.org would be such a bad place to donate to.
The [offline] article I read on this indicated that this case was unusual in that the girl did not have your standard type 1 diabetes but had developed it due to an inflammation of the pancreas when she was younger. As a result her immune system was not attacking her beta cells so this case is rather different from that in most type 1s whose bodies would attack implanted cells normally.
The short answer is No. Immuno-suppressents are not as bad as they sound. Taking them is no big deal.
I've been on them for 4 years, since my kidney transplant. Contrary to popular belief they do not make you much more susceptible to every cold and flu going around. Obviously you are slightly more vulnerable to viral infections.. but in the last 4 years I have not suffered from any more illnesses than anyone else I know.
Generally its just one pill a day which replaces dozens of pills, a few injections and in my case, dialysis.
(talking purely about type I diabetes here)
Yeah, you're exactly correct except for the "just" word ;-). Speaking as a type I diabetic, with a type I brother and a type II stepfather and a type II stepbrother - keeping control of the blood sugar levels can be a bitch. Regardless of whether you're injecting insulin or not.
I wouldn't consider a "treatment" involving immunosuppressant drugs unless my blood sugar levels were really severely out of control (and I'd tried a variety of alternatives). Anti-rejection drugs suck.
I was much more excited about the Glucowatch product (nice asynchronous, albeit approximate, blood sugar monitoring tool), but I first heard about it a couple of years ago and still haven't seen any sign of them being available in Australia. Motherfuckers.
In fact, the Glucowatch website doesn't seem to have been updated in about a year. Hmmm. I wonder what's happening with them. I hope they get their shit together at some time, as the Glucowatch could be a really really useful tool.
Diabetics learn very quickly how much insulin they require and to adjust it as they see fit.
On the insulin side, we have a wide range of available, from very rapid acting ( taking effect within 10 minutes to provide "bolus" (peak) insulin for when you eat) to very long acting (lasting up to 24 hours to provide "basal" (background) insulin). Using different insulins diabetics can get a remarkably precise control with little effort.
As for hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) leading to diabetic coma, this is easily avoided by any diabetic with even "rough" control due to the fact that they will readily feel blood sugar levels dropping far in advance of danger and a quick ingestion of some sweet substance will solve the problem in a matter of a couple of minutes - actually, it's quite remarkable how quickly the sugar is absorbed and works it's magic.
It's not hard these days to keep your diabetes in fair control, and within or close to the "normal" range that will keep problems later in life at bay. Diabetes is in essence a very treatable and predicatble ailment once detected.
Detecting it in the first place is probably the biggest problem these days - so many people don't recognize the symptoms...
a) Excessive thirst and urination - this is the biggie, classic and very telling symptom. Your body is working hard trying to flush itself, but it can't keep up.
b) Tiredness - the higher your BG gets, the more tired you get
c) Weight loss, dehydration.
d) Sweet fruity smell on the breath - your body is having to break down fats to get at sugars and as a result it's producing some pretty nasty by products - your getting keto acidosis. At this point you are extremely ill and must get to a doctor very quickly. I mean VERY quickly... if you delay then you may fall into a coma, your brain will swell, and rather soon, you will die.
People often leave it much to late, not getting diagnosed until they are in a state of acidosis - I know, I did - almost too late, but once diagnosed, a couple of days in a hospital and some home visits by a diabetes nurse educator I was fine - 10 years later I'm still fine, and I expect to still be fine for another 40 to 50 years at least.
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Ok, what sucks about diabetes is having to take the injections
No. Trust me on this. What sucks about diabetes is the high likelyhood of losing your vision, pancreas, liver, feet, or even your dick.
A little jab in the stomache with a needle is nothing to fear compared to what high blood sugar does to your body over the long haul.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
While this is good news and all, there still have not been studies for the long term use of immusupressents. Being diabetic for over 30 years I keep up with this type of information. Dr Faustman, was the first to cure diabetes in long term non-obese mice. Type 1 diabetes is an auto immune disease. What Dr. Faustman did was to stop the auto immune disease and retrain the immune system. After the treatment, the insulin cells reproduce themselves and no more medication of any kind was needed. It's a two step process. She's now trying to raise 11 million for the first phase 1 trial on humans with the help of Lee Iaccoca (of Chrysler fame). Unfortunately, her process uses drugs who's patent has expired and hence not a lot money potential on something that already costs the United States over 100 Billion. Lee Iaccoca who has already donated over 20 million on diabetes research is spearheading raising money for this by going to the people. You can find out more information and donate (I have) at http://http//www.joinleenow.org