Maria Torres, a healthy, healthy woman of 43 was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. It was completely out of the blue. She was a girl who took her health and fitness seriously with regular exercise, healthy eating and weight control. She just could not believe it. Refusing to accept the accounts, she asked her physician to re-test her. Nonetheless, the results were exactly the same.
What is happening?
Her life could now undergo dramatic transformation and nobody could completely explain why this was occurring. No one was surprised at Maria’s refusal to accept the diagnosis. She just didn’t match with the profile of a typical Type 2 diabetes patient. The probable cause of this could be a undiscovered genetic component that made Maria vulnerable to the illness. So as to handle the diabetes, she had to alter her current lifestyle.
Whilst her pancreas was generating insulin which instructs the cells to take in blood glucose, her cells had developed insulin resistance and therefore not really co-operating in the scheme of things. Consequently, with sugar accumulation in her blood, Maria was facing a range of health risks like heart disease, nerve damage and eye difficulties. It had come down to routine insulin shots five times per day so as to absorb the sugar and regular monitoring of her glucose levels.
Good to know
She’s followed this regimented lifestyle for 20 odd years. But insulin isn’t the cure. It helps to control the status and she faces enormous side effects such as mood swings and severe complications when her sugar levels are rising and fall. An encouraging strategy to fight diabetes by transplanting beta cells which enables the blood to feel the sugar levels and create insulin thereby reducing them in time has gained momentum.
Those suffering from Type 1 diabetes could gain since the new beta cells are going to have the ability to substitute the cells which had been lost as a result of the disease. For individuals using the Type 2 condition like Maria, transplanting beta cells may potentially boost the body’s capacity to create insulin and consequently decreasing glucose levels and reducing the requirement for shots. A San Diego based company received significant funds from CIRM to focus on this prognosis. They’ve been working towards creating innovative methodologies to transform human embryonic stem cells to insulin-producing cells.
Stem cells
With stem cells unique capacity to transform into any shape or tissue, the study team was looking to replicate the exact indicators that could change a stem cell to a beta cell, as opposed to a neuron or muscle cell. Success came and the study team managed to come up with progenitor cells, just one step short of producing mature beta cells. These progenitor cells have been given sufficient gestation period so that they could develop within the body.
Under clinical conditions using creatures, the tougher progenitor cells suffered the transplant process and, on attaining adulthood began producing insulin. Along with this, the researchers began with adding the progenitor cells in a porous capsule before initiating the transplantation under the skin. Using this method, they could keep out the cells hence circumventing possible attack and denunciation from the individual’s own immune system. An FDA approved clinical trial for Type 1 diabetes is now underway. With constant progression, their aim to finally also help people that suffer from Type 2 diabetes too. For Maria, this is a significant breakthrough, not just for herself but also for her loved ones.
