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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."
So, if implanted Islets can be used to replace insulin producing cells, then ones grown from the patients own stem cells can too. And without rejection.
well, I know people who have diabetes, as well as people who had (multiple) organ transplants.
Taking those tough medication after organ transplants does not exactly cheer one up, but the dose gets reduced, over time. Eventuelly you can live without the medication.
For diabetes, that isn't the case, afaik.
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Is the pancreas like the liver, that if you take part out of a living human, transplant it in another person, both livers will grow back to their normal size. Will that happen with a pancreas, or is the mother stuck with 50% of her pancreas.
Nor is it clear whether the procedure would be as effective in people, like most of those with type 1 diabetes, whose own immune cells have destroyed their insulin-producing pancreatic cells.
How does this happen? Is this a problem with the immune system, or is it a problem with the pancreas?
If the immune system is responsible for the damage to the pancreas, then transplants won't work. We need to find out the cause.
If the problem is with the pancreas, I think a far more effective treatment will be genetic therapy. Since genes control how much of a protien or enzyme is made, if the gene is damaged due to mutation or any reason, that tissue might not function normally. If we can advance gene therapy, we can replace the malfunctioning DNA with working DNA.
I was told in high school health class that diabities is almost 100% due to diet or lack of exersize. I am glad to see we are getting better reasons than "he's fat and does not exersize, so that is why he got sick".
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A friend of my mothers about 3 years ago had this same type of surgery done. She had type-II diabetes since she was a teenager and had required shots. She no longer has to take insulin shots twice daily which has now been replaced by the pill.
/.ers out there probably have friends with type-II diabeties and don't even know it.
I saw someone post something about whether this would actually change quality of life, and I can say from seeing those close to me, yes. My father died of pancratic cancer, and the cancer caused type-II diabeties, and the ammount of effort that had to be put into regulating insulin levels, taking your shots, checking your blood, it all adds up. To just take a pill in the morning instead is considerably easier.
Personally, I wouldn't like having to check my blood 3 times a day, and give myself injections on top of that. I'm sure most other people wouldn't like that either, to have that replaced by a pill would be a god send.
It is something that hits close to home, and I'm sure that many of you
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As a Type 1 diabetic for the last two years I can say that I would gladly take 500 pills a day if it meant that I could get away from the needle. With Blood glucose ranges from 34 to 634 it makes life a pain, To low and you pass out to high and your destroying your kidneys. Life sucks when you have to stop in the middle of mowing the lawn to drink a big glass of OJ to keep your BG from going through the floor. !!! I'm all for it and the reasearch that is taking place!!! Give me the pills, and anybody got a pancreas that they dont need? :)
The immunosupressants means that he has to go to the hospital any time he gets a bad cold, infections are a constant problem and fear, and the prednisone (anti-inflammatory steroid that all recipients have to take alongside the immunosupressants for the rest of their lives) causes bloat, loss of muscle mass, sleeplessness, and the "shakes". That's just part of the story.
In his case the choice was clear: dialysis sucks bigtime. But if it was me and the choice was insulin vs. the drugs transplant recipients have to take, I'd stick with the insulin, no contest.
It all comes down to a personal decision, but her choice is not the one I would have made; I wonder if she really knew what she was in for? I certainly wish her luck. At least in her case rejection probably just means that she'll have to go back to the insulin.
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Insulin is not classified as a 'medication', but a hormone. I myself am diabetic (type 1) and would rather continue to take my 6 injections a day than have an operation and use drugs to combat my immune system. I really look forward to the day when there's a cure. I wish the japanese girl all the best tho !
Despite being unbelievably cynical (first "another internet loser asking for money" then "don't donate to organizations"), how do you propose donating money directly to "who it helps" (diabetics?) for research to cure a disease. A large project needs a leader, and an individual diabetic isn't going to cure himself.
I'm not a huge fan of Iacocca, but he's probably got juge amounts of money near the end of his life, is broken up about his wife's death, and wants to use that money to make sure others don't go through his pain. He's asking you to be part of that.
You don't have to be. If you don't want to help diabetes research, then fine. If you don't like this particular problem, then fine, too. You can do anything you want with your money, but geez, you should perk up a little and not use lame excuses like "I have heard of charity groups telling hospitals or universities" to destroy the concept of charitable contribution.
Being overly cynical may help you from getting hurt, but it will also take away any joy that you might get from life by, say, thinking "The US$20 that I donated to research ended up helping to save thousands of lives."
On the other hand, if the research goes through successfully, it'll probably just get locked up in patents and made prohibitively expensive by corporations... Maybe you can stay cynical.
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I take one immuno-suppressent (Cyclosporin) twice a day and one (very small dosage) steroid a day and my blood pressure pills.
But my point is I was on maybe 4 times as many pills before my transplant. And the longer you are on dialysis the weaker your bones, heart and other parts become. Also dialysis is time consuming and very depressing.
You can lead a normal life on immuno-suppressents. I and countless others do. I would not have a normal life without my transplant, if indeed I would still be alive.
People should not be knocking transplants simply because they require you to take the immuno-suppressents afterwards.
The alternative to transplants, from what I have seen, is always much much worse.
The cocktail of immuno-suppressive drugs (in some form or another) is something you pretty much take for life after an organ transplant.
I am a physician, and I've never heard of people being completely weaned from drugs. If they were, they would run the risk of their immune system reasserting itself big and ugly, possibly resulting in an episode of acute rejection (which is no joke). I can see them trying to taper the dose down a bit, but immunosuppressive therapy remains the standard of care.
If this is something new, I'd love to see it happen, because those drugs are very problematic for patients. They not only leave you susceptible to common infections, but they also increase your risk for cancers.
Never underestimate how many potential cancers your immune system finds and kills early. You should see some of the post-transplant patients who have spent time in the sun... they grow skin cancers like it's their job.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
I'm not diabetic, but have a type 1 child.
At first we were really excited about the GlucoWatch until we looked more deeply into it. It was pretty disappointing. Supplies for it are very expensive. By contrast, insulin pump therapy supplies are inexpensive. (All of the various brands of pumps we looked at ranged between $5,500 and $6,000.) I was also not real impressed by the accuracy of the GlucoWatch.
Pump therapy is good and getting better. Our hospital has told us that within the year that the MiniMed pump (Medtronics) will have an upgrade that can monitor BG levels and alert you if they are falling (or rising). They are supposed to already be in clinical trials.
The pump trainer (employed by the hospital) also said that in a generation or so of pump, they expect to have a closed loop system where the pump will adjust your insulin dose without user interaction for rising BG, and alert you for falling BG.
Even the current generation pumps (which we have in hand, but have not yet installed batteries nor had the 24 hour hospital stay to begin using) have a radio link between the glucometer and the pump. If you are taking BG readings frequently enough, the pump always knows your BG levels and can automatically suggest a bolus.
We were very impressed by the sophistication of the current pumps. The fact that MiniMed often has a $200 yearly upgrade was a major selling point for their particular brand.
Pumps are supposedly bullet proof (and water proof), but I wouldn't want to test this.
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