The importance of stem cells in Diabetes treatment
A recent study reveals that stem cells from cord blood reverse a diabetic's own T cells and restart pancreatic function thereby decrease the need for insulin.
Stem Cell Educator therapy slowly passes lymphocytes separated from a patient's blood over immobilized cord blood stem cells (CBSC) from healthy donors. After 2-3 hours in the device the re-educated lymphocytes are returned to the patient. The progress of the patients was checked at 4, 12, 24 and 40 weeks after therapy.
C-peptide is a protein fragment made as a by-product of insulin manufacture. It can be used to identify how well beta cells are working. By 12 weeks after treatment all the patients who received the therapy had improved levels of C –peptide. This continued to improve at 24 weeks and was maintained to the end of the study. It means that the daily dose of insulin to maintain their blood glucose levels should be decreased. The glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) indicator of long term glucose control should also be reduced for people receiving the treatment, but not for the control group.
Dr. Yong Zhao, from University of Illinois at Chicago, the head of the multi-centre research, concluded:
"We also found the improvement in autoimmune control in these patients. Stem Cell Educator therapy increased the percentage of regulatory T lymphocytes in the blood of people in the treatment group. Such marker of immune function as TGF-beta1 also improved. We suggest that this improvement in autoimmune control mediated by the autoimmune regulator AIRE in the CBSC which allows the pancreatic islet beta cells to recover."
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