World News
DIABETES CURE… OR THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR INSULIN DEPENDENCE?
Scientists in China and the United States have successfully used stem cells to create insulin-producing cells that restored the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar in some patients with Type 1 diabetes.
The experimental procedures, conducted by researchers in China and separately by Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the U.S., represent a significant leap beyond traditional disease management.
For over a century, diabetes has required patients to endure daily insulin injections and constant glucose monitoring.
These new cell-based therapies aim to rebuild the biological function that is lost in the disease.
According to details shared online by science commentator SciTech Girl, which have garnered significant attention from the medical community, the approach involves creating new islet cells from stem cells and transplanting them into patients.
In several individuals with Type 1 diabetes, whose pancreases no longer produce insulin, these transplanted cells have begun producing insulin again—eliminating the need for injected insulin.
“No pump. No syringe. Just living cells doing their job,” the report stated, summarising the dramatic outcome for some trial participants.
Medical experts caution that while the results are groundbreaking, they do not yet constitute a widespread, proven cure.
The trials remain small in scale, and the long-term durability and safety of the transplanted cells are still unknown.