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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."

10 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. Future of treatment? by Bananatree3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    With the advent of this new treatment, maybe thousands of diabetics could have the ability to live insulin-injection free. Yes, they do have to take anti-rejection drugs, but it is no different then taking the drugs for an organ transplant. Even if this is only a prelude to a new, more permenent treatment, the possibilities of this doing good with this new treatment is huge.

    1. Re:Future of treatment? by DigiShaman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      FYI, I'm not diabetic. However, trading one method of maintainin health for another doesn't sound such a good idea. I assume diabetics just need to take shots. But with this new transplant, they run the risk of much more illnesses and being sick more often due to the anti-rejection drugs.

      With the diabetic shots at least, you know what can happen. It's predictable. But with the anti-rejection drugs, you just opened up a world of shit for yourself in regards to a suppressed amune system.

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    2. Re:Future of treatment? by Jjeff1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The idea that a diabetic just takes shots is not true at all. My brother has type 1, he was initially misdiagnosed and he almost died. The shots are intended to counteract the sugar in the food you eat. Now if you should mess up somehow, and it does happen, you could be in trouble. Low blood sugar, possibly caused by too much insulin, can cause a sudden diabetic coma and a trip to the hospital. Additionally, your blood sugar is affected by your mood and sometimes by nothing at all. I've heard that teenage guys can suddenly have their blood sugar go nuts when a pretty girl walks by. Some diabetics can tell when their blood sugar feels off and begin treating themselves, but some cannot. Also, when a diabetic has very high or low blood sugar, it affects their brain and their ability to think clearly. In school, all his teachers knew that if he should feel funny, they had to send another student to escort him to the nurse; otherwise he could literally get lost along the way.

      In any case, many diabetics do not monitor themselves properly. They allow their blood sugar to consistently run too high, which in the long term can cause kidney failure, foot amputation, blindness and a host of other problems. Even diabetics that do monitor their blood sugar properly risk these things.

      My brother has had a much easier time since he switched from injections to an insulin pump. He still has to do the tests, but when you're out in public, a finger prick test can be done fairly privatly, while injected yourself in the stomach cannot. With the pump, he hits some buttons on it and he's done.

      I'm not sure that the rejection pills would be better, since I don't really know much about them. But I do know that diabetes is not at all the "I just take a shot" most people think it is.

    3. Re:Future of treatment? by krgallagher · · Score: 4, Insightful
      " FYI, I'm not diabetic. However, trading one method of maintainin health for another doesn't sound such a good idea."

      FYI, I am diabetic. Trading regular doses of a anti-rejection drugs for the constant maintenance of my blood sugar all day every day is a trade I would happily make. I realize that you are not diabetic and cannot really understand what it is like. Diabetes is not a diseas that you "treat" with periodic injections of insulin. Because your body cannot regulate your blood sugar you have to do it yourself with both diet and medication, all day, every day. The consequences of failure can be fatal. Even if you do a good job, diabetes will almost certainly reduce your lifespan by more than 10 years. The consequences of failure also include blindness, kidney failure, the loss of limbs and heart disease. Yes, it is a trade I would make.

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  2. Awesome, but. . . . by physicsphairy · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Personally, I think I would probably prefer taking insulin to a number of immuno-depressing drugs.

    Still valuable research, no doubt.

  3. Will the life quality be better or worse? by ladybugfi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So the woman is not taking insulin anymore, but she is taking immuno-suppressants.

    This means she has switched from one type of life-long medication to another type of life-long medication. Is this really a change for the better?

  4. Re:Stem cells. by barbazoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They will be rejected too, since most diabetes type 1 patients' immune system are programmed to destroy insulin producing cells.

  5. Re:First implemented in Canada by qewl · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not only has the idea been around, but it has actually been performed multiple times. This was the just the first islet transplant from a [keyword]living[/keyword] donor. While still a great scientific event, the poster has misled and over-hyped this story.

    Read more

    The Japanese case is the first to be performed successfully using cells from a living donor. Previous cases involved donors who had died or who used their own reprocessed cells, which are injected back into their body.

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  6. Re:Woohoo!!! by FidelCatsro · · Score: 3, Insightful

    1: abortions are legal and its the persons choise if they decide to have one and frankly it is not our place to force our morality on others (ethics dont define what you decide you want done to yourself , it defines how you act to others IMO)

    2: if these abortions are going to hapen ,then would it not be better to get something usefull out of them,If you belive that they were living thinking beings (not the debate as to if that is true or not) and there is nothing(ethicaly or moraly) you can do to stop it taking place then why not get some good out of it .

    The analogy you use of the FDA doing further research is specious ,they are performing tests to assure the medicine does not cause more damage than it prevents , blocking funding to stem cell research does nobody any good , the pro lifers still get irate about abortions ,The religious folks who like to get irate with science and find another area of research to attack , the people suffering from parkensons lose some more hope ,The pro stem research lobbyist get a bit irate . all in all the situation is throughly iratating.

    Im not an american and my views on Bushs other presidential acts otherwise aside , This was a totaly stupid decision that seems to me a bit like book burning .
    The research will continue , Your tax dollars are put to better use(?) are they , do you know what the funds got diverted to , i can hasten a guess that it is not back to you or another scientific field, Stem cell advances that will(possibly nothing is certain , but its fairly likely) save millions of lives will instead hapen much later and instead of being partial protected will be in the hands of a private company and it will end up costing you more in the end .

    The grandparent may have phrased it in a way that offended you slightly ,but he is very much right , its a no win situation unless you count votes for political fiqures a win , as thats the only thing to come out of this

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  7. Re:Woohoo!!! by 10Ghz · · Score: 4, Insightful
    But does society want an added value to more aboritions "Hey, the dead baby was good for something after all, lets have more of them". Is a life a commodity?


    I don't think anyone would become pregnant just so they could be harvested for cells. But if they did, what would be the harm? It's not "dead baby". It's a fetus. It might be only few clustered cells without any brain-functions. If those cells could be used to cure someone from a mortal disease, I fail to see what damage it does. Of course, abortion is a big thing for the people involved, but if they want to do it, who are we to say "no"?

    Abortions will happen. Outlawing them wont make them go away. And since they will happen no matter what, you might as well figure out ways how they could benefit the society as a whole. Demonizing the doctors who do them as "baby-killers" or something accomplishes nothing. using the cells for cures of disease or research accomplishes quite alot.

    If you really want to reduce the number of abortions, you should focus on educating people. No, "say no to sex!" or bible-thumbing is not the answer. Objective information about different birth-control methods and making them available would be a good start.

    And like it or not, life is a commodity. It has been since the dawn of time. We have had prostitutes, slaves, mercenaries and even regural wage-slaves. We all sell our lives to some extent for money.
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