6 ms·

Stem cells reverse woman’s diabetes

293 points by user070223 2y ago

bmau5 2y ago
Amazing! Hopefully the effects are sustained over the long term and can be replicated. The potential of the stem cell space is incredible. Another interesting development is patients "cured" of HIV following stem cell transplants to treat leukaemia - which has no direct clinical implications given the significant risk of stem cell transplant but does inspire hope for the future [1]. Edit: Source: https://www.who.int/news/item/25-07-2024-a-seventh-case-of-hiv-remission-reported-at-aids-2024 https://www.who.int/news/item/25-07-2024-a-seventh-case-of-h...
- cedric_h 2y ago
  TFA claims the stem cells were administered into the abdominal muscles, which may reduce the "significant risk of stem cell transplant" compared to direct injection into the liver.
  - anon84873628 2y ago
    I'm curious why they don't transplant into the pancreas?
    - inglor_cz 2y ago
      Stem cells are pretty good at moving around. If they don't want to stay in the pancreas, you won't be able to make them, and if they want to go to the pancreas, they will find their way there even if transplanted in a less invasive way.
      - atombender 2y ago
        How do stem cells move?
    - ygouzerh 2y ago
      It seems from the article that it's harder to monitor, so by injecting in the abdomen they can monitor them using MRI and remove them if needed.
    - 9baka 2y ago
      The point of stem cell treatments is to replace cells that are no longer there doing their job. It's not too relevant for the replaced cells to be in the same spot, as long as they exist and produce insulin, you are good to go. You could argue for the location having physiological implications, for instance: it's convenient for the liver to be right after the intestines (connected through the portal vein), like this, it metabolizes large amounts of whatever is absorbed intestinally at once, before it reaches systemic circulation. This may hold true for the pancreas as well. It uses duodenal glucose concentrations to know exactly how much insulin to release, which may not be representative of the rest body's glucose concentrations. Practically speaking, it is far safer to inject stem cells in the abdomen where you have room for erscqror and can do surgery on without much trouble vs the pancreas, if anything goes wrong there, you could easily kill a patient.
- wombatpm 2y ago
  I’m surprised more people didn’t try that route earlier. Step one in stem cell transplant for leukemia it to kill all existing immune cells. HIV hides in immune cells. I think too many HIV patients were too compromised by opportunistic infections to ever be healthy enough for stem cell transplants
  - Projectiboga 2y ago
    Nowadays many hiv positive individuals are in better than average health. And a fluke for the ones diagnosed with AIDS they enjoy a slightly longer than average lufe expectancy. This is part a survivor bias, where only the fittest of tgat cohort survived. It is also due to their being eledgable for medicaid with double the income of anyone else.
syntheticnature 2y ago
The fact this worked on Type 1, which is an autoimmune disorder, is very interesting/surprising as a layman.
- kgc 2y ago
  The patient was on immunosuppressants.
  - mlhpdx 2y ago
    This. I’m stupefied that they would include someone in immunosuppressants in such a study. It’s pointless since requiring them in a “cure” makes it largely worse than the disease (when well controlled).
    - Projectiboga 2y ago
      Hi type 1 here. Since our errant immunity is localized on the insulin producing beta cells being on immune supressants would still be better than being insulin deoendent. Type 1 diabetes is a wild condition, when my blood sugar drops, subsections of my brain switch off. Low sugars are very emotionally bleak. There is a whole set of post traumatic stressors as part of this. 35 years ago I could just walk into a pharmacy and buy insulin without a prescription, maybe the pharmacist might as a couple of questions to at least try and be sure I need it, and that insulin was maybe $30 cash with no insurance and that was enough for a month. So everything might be $70 for an entire month w 5 blood sugar tests per day. Now a months supplies is in the hundreds of dollars. This stuff doesn't involve much more to manufacture, just layers of beauracy and markups. So yes having to take a cheap pill or two every day with the worst case being a revertion to being insulin dependent is worthwhile. Now side effects of the immune drugs might maybe be worse, but I doubt that. And this is a pilot to get FDA approval to test genetically modified beta cells that a type 1 wont destroy. Thanks for any understanding and compassion you can bring to this discussion.
      - jcims 2y ago
        My youngest was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 14 and it has been a tremendous emotional and physical burden on her. It's so encouraging to see research in this area and the faintest glimmer of a hope for a hope that she'll find relief.
BuildWithMason 2y ago
This is a fascinating development, especially for type 1 diabetes, where autoimmunity is such a challenge. Using the patient’s own reprogrammed cells to avoid immune rejection is promising.
PakG1 2y ago
I've been waiting for stem cell therapy to regrow my recessed gums. Every option for taking care of my recessed gums seem horrible and my gums are so far gone. Wish I'd have developed better habits for taking care of them when I was younger but oh well.
- josvdwest 2y ago
  Would love stem cells for gum recovery!
- elric 2y ago
  > Wish I'd have developed better habits That's always easier said than done, isn't it? I'm sure many of us wish they had taken better care of their bodies when they were younger, but sometimes life gets in the way, long term impacts are unclear, and we overestimate our ability to "fix it later".
  - fredrikholm 2y ago
    It's also important to not underestimate just how powerful lifestyle changes can be even in the face of (a lot of our potential) dire outcomes. Not sure about gums here specifically. Reversing a condition once you have it is an order of magnitude more difficult to fix than to prevent, but if you're in luck and able to do so, every day now has the potential for taking a step in the right direction. My favorite example of this is post-menopausal women regaining bone density, muscle mass, balance, mood etc. to rival women half their age in a matter of a few weeks (weight training). The same can be said for pre-diabetes, early T2, high blood pressure, addictions... the list goes on. With regards to OP, I hope you find some relief somehow! I still have some baby teeth with very short roots; the second I get inflamed gums my pain level approaches levels were I can't function properly. What is the symptoms of receded gums?
    - elric 2y ago
      > It's also important to not underestimate just how powerful lifestyle changes can be Agreed, what's that phrase, "The best time to start was 20 years ago, the second best time is now"? But it's also important to be a little kind to yourself, don't be too harsh on yourself for the things you didn't do or could have done differently. You can't go back in time.
blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
Interesting that the stem reprogramming technique was invented 20 years ago. I wonder if all who contributed to this over the years will get their due rewards. I feel they won’t, which makes me sad. Amazing results and huge potential for diabetes but also other conditions.
ygouzerh 2y ago
That's awesome! My sister got diabetes Type 1 few years ago and was loosing hope. That's a very great news for her and all the people that have to lived with it and who we told there was no cure when they got it.
loceng 2y ago
I have wondered for awhile what just injecting [fresh] placental/umbilical cord tissue into people with various autoimmune issues may result in, as apparently it has powerful immune system regulators in it; I've not looked for related research yet though.

293 points by user070223 2y ago

Amazing! Hopefully the effects are sustained over the long term and can be replicated. The potential of the stem cell space is incredible. Another interesting development is patients "cured" of HIV following stem cell transplants to treat leukaemia - which has no direct clinical implications given the significant risk of stem cell transplant but does inspire hope for the future [1]. Edit: Source: https://www.who.int/news/item/25-07-2024-a-seventh-case-of-hiv-remission-reported-at-aids-2024 https://www.who.int/news/item/25-07-2024-a-seventh-case-of-h...

cedric_h 2y ago
TFA claims the stem cells were administered into the abdominal muscles, which may reduce the "significant risk of stem cell transplant" compared to direct injection into the liver.
- anon84873628 2y ago
  I'm curious why they don't transplant into the pancreas?
  - inglor_cz 2y ago
    Stem cells are pretty good at moving around. If they don't want to stay in the pancreas, you won't be able to make them, and if they want to go to the pancreas, they will find their way there even if transplanted in a less invasive way.
    - atombender 2y ago
      How do stem cells move?
  - ygouzerh 2y ago
    It seems from the article that it's harder to monitor, so by injecting in the abdomen they can monitor them using MRI and remove them if needed.
  - 9baka 2y ago
    The point of stem cell treatments is to replace cells that are no longer there doing their job. It's not too relevant for the replaced cells to be in the same spot, as long as they exist and produce insulin, you are good to go. You could argue for the location having physiological implications, for instance: it's convenient for the liver to be right after the intestines (connected through the portal vein), like this, it metabolizes large amounts of whatever is absorbed intestinally at once, before it reaches systemic circulation. This may hold true for the pancreas as well. It uses duodenal glucose concentrations to know exactly how much insulin to release, which may not be representative of the rest body's glucose concentrations. Practically speaking, it is far safer to inject stem cells in the abdomen where you have room for erscqror and can do surgery on without much trouble vs the pancreas, if anything goes wrong there, you could easily kill a patient.
wombatpm 2y ago
I’m surprised more people didn’t try that route earlier. Step one in stem cell transplant for leukemia it to kill all existing immune cells. HIV hides in immune cells. I think too many HIV patients were too compromised by opportunistic infections to ever be healthy enough for stem cell transplants
- Projectiboga 2y ago
  Nowadays many hiv positive individuals are in better than average health. And a fluke for the ones diagnosed with AIDS they enjoy a slightly longer than average lufe expectancy. This is part a survivor bias, where only the fittest of tgat cohort survived. It is also due to their being eledgable for medicaid with double the income of anyone else.

syntheticnature 2y ago

The fact this worked on Type 1, which is an autoimmune disorder, is very interesting/surprising as a layman.

kgc 2y ago
The patient was on immunosuppressants.
- mlhpdx 2y ago
  This. I’m stupefied that they would include someone in immunosuppressants in such a study. It’s pointless since requiring them in a “cure” makes it largely worse than the disease (when well controlled).
  - Projectiboga 2y ago
    Hi type 1 here. Since our errant immunity is localized on the insulin producing beta cells being on immune supressants would still be better than being insulin deoendent. Type 1 diabetes is a wild condition, when my blood sugar drops, subsections of my brain switch off. Low sugars are very emotionally bleak. There is a whole set of post traumatic stressors as part of this. 35 years ago I could just walk into a pharmacy and buy insulin without a prescription, maybe the pharmacist might as a couple of questions to at least try and be sure I need it, and that insulin was maybe $30 cash with no insurance and that was enough for a month. So everything might be $70 for an entire month w 5 blood sugar tests per day. Now a months supplies is in the hundreds of dollars. This stuff doesn't involve much more to manufacture, just layers of beauracy and markups. So yes having to take a cheap pill or two every day with the worst case being a revertion to being insulin dependent is worthwhile. Now side effects of the immune drugs might maybe be worse, but I doubt that. And this is a pilot to get FDA approval to test genetically modified beta cells that a type 1 wont destroy. Thanks for any understanding and compassion you can bring to this discussion.
    - jcims 2y ago
      My youngest was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 14 and it has been a tremendous emotional and physical burden on her. It's so encouraging to see research in this area and the faintest glimmer of a hope for a hope that she'll find relief.

BuildWithMason 2y ago

This is a fascinating development, especially for type 1 diabetes, where autoimmunity is such a challenge. Using the patient’s own reprogrammed cells to avoid immune rejection is promising.

PakG1 2y ago

I've been waiting for stem cell therapy to regrow my recessed gums. Every option for taking care of my recessed gums seem horrible and my gums are so far gone. Wish I'd have developed better habits for taking care of them when I was younger but oh well.

josvdwest 2y ago
Would love stem cells for gum recovery!
elric 2y ago
> Wish I'd have developed better habits That's always easier said than done, isn't it? I'm sure many of us wish they had taken better care of their bodies when they were younger, but sometimes life gets in the way, long term impacts are unclear, and we overestimate our ability to "fix it later".
- fredrikholm 2y ago
  It's also important to not underestimate just how powerful lifestyle changes can be even in the face of (a lot of our potential) dire outcomes. Not sure about gums here specifically. Reversing a condition once you have it is an order of magnitude more difficult to fix than to prevent, but if you're in luck and able to do so, every day now has the potential for taking a step in the right direction. My favorite example of this is post-menopausal women regaining bone density, muscle mass, balance, mood etc. to rival women half their age in a matter of a few weeks (weight training). The same can be said for pre-diabetes, early T2, high blood pressure, addictions... the list goes on. With regards to OP, I hope you find some relief somehow! I still have some baby teeth with very short roots; the second I get inflamed gums my pain level approaches levels were I can't function properly. What is the symptoms of receded gums?
  - elric 2y ago
    > It's also important to not underestimate just how powerful lifestyle changes can be Agreed, what's that phrase, "The best time to start was 20 years ago, the second best time is now"? But it's also important to be a little kind to yourself, don't be too harsh on yourself for the things you didn't do or could have done differently. You can't go back in time.

blackeyeblitzar 2y ago

Interesting that the stem reprogramming technique was invented 20 years ago. I wonder if all who contributed to this over the years will get their due rewards. I feel they won’t, which makes me sad. Amazing results and huge potential for diabetes but also other conditions.

ygouzerh 2y ago

That's awesome! My sister got diabetes Type 1 few years ago and was loosing hope. That's a very great news for her and all the people that have to lived with it and who we told there was no cure when they got it.

loceng 2y ago

I have wondered for awhile what just injecting [fresh] placental/umbilical cord tissue into people with various autoimmune issues may result in, as apparently it has powerful immune system regulators in it; I've not looked for related research yet though.