5 ms·
A Cure for Type 1 Diabetes?
- anonygler 5y agoI was under the impression that stem cell treatments don’t require immunosuppression. Really seems to limit the upside of this breakthrough treatment.
- heisenzombie 5y agoType 1 diabetes is caused by the immune system attacking the cells that produce insulin. In a new diabetic it takes on the order of 6-18 months to kill enough cells to make someone diabetic. Replacing the cells would be a very temporary fix. I do wonder —- if this technology was arbitrarily cheap, would there be a downside to just “topping up” the cells every month or so? Or would stoking a constant immune response cause other issues?
- porknubbins 5y agoNow that they found the messaging to cause stem cells to produce insulin why can't they find a way to do it with ones own stem cells, that the body would hopefully not reject?
- tonyedgecombe 5y agoBut the immune system was already rejecting his own insulin creating cells. This is what caused the type-1 diabetes in the first place. Presumably it would continue to do that with the new cells.