3 ms·
Type 1 diabetic here: you're right, it's a bad tradeoff. We already can do pancreas transplants for T1D, but the reason it's very uncommon is that immunosuppres
by Trasmatta 2y ago
Type 1 diabetic here: you're right, it's a bad tradeoff. We already can do pancreas transplants for T1D, but the reason it's very uncommon is that immunosuppressants are a very bad tradeoff. Insulin treatment is preferred in the vast majority of cases.
Stuff like this will never be a breakthrough until it doesn't need immunosuppressants. The best advancements in diabetes treatment will most likely continue to be on closed loop artificial pancreas systems.
- karim79 2y agoI'm sorry for your plight and I genuinely hope there will be a much more tenable solution in the near future.
- nextos 2y agoInsulin-specific immunotherapies are currently under development. We will soon be able to restore tolerance to insulin, and other pancreatic antigens such as GAD-65, without the need for broad immunosupressants. Ideally, this should stop β cell destruction and conversion to T1D from auto-antibody positive status, as well as facilitate islet transplants with minimal side effects for those that are already T1D patients.
- riebalas 2y agoI wouldn't call closed loop systems much of an advancement... Sure, it doses insulin automatically based off of CGM data, but it's barely any better than just injecting yourself. Cons even outweight the pros for some - being constantly attached to a device is no fun. And the slugishness of exogenous insulin (both: the way it is injected and its time of action) diminishes any attempts to achieve precision using CGM data and algorithms in controlling diabetes. Not to mention CGM data isn't that accurate/rapid enough also. All in all, it's just not efficient, calling these systems 'artificial pancreas' is more of a marketing gimmick than reality, thus why a proper cure is needed.