3 ms·
Cure - no. Treatment - possibly. Very early after type 1 diabetes was discovered, doctors tried transplanting bits of pancreas to see if it could help, but the
by mnw21cam 11y ago
Cure - no. Treatment - possibly.
Very early after type 1 diabetes was discovered, doctors tried transplanting bits of pancreas to see if it could help, but the body's immune system destroyed the transplants extraordinarily quickly. If this membrane works to keep the immune system out, that could be very interesting.
I work on research into monogenic diabetes, where the beta-cells lack the working gene required to produce insulin, and I am guessing this would work on that too.
- orclev 11y agoAs a type 1 this sounds great, but my concern is if you have this sack of cells sitting in your body that's insulated from the immune system, what happens if some kind of infection manages to take hold inside of the sack? I don't know how common it is for instance for something like a virus to infect pancreas cells, but it seems like if one did manage to take hold inside of this "device" that could be incredibly bad. I'm also working on the assumption that this same membrane might protect it from bacterial infection, but that's also a big assumption, and if it doesn't that seems like it could be even worse.
- rincebrain 11y agoThey address this in the article, saying that "Because of the protective capsule, which is flattish and smaller than a business card, if something goes awry, the capsule can be removed immediately to prevent patient harm."
- gozur88 11y agoWhether or not that's a deal killer really depends on how often it happens.