Patients Living Insulin-Free; used their own stem cells

[Abbey Marie]

Patients Living Insulin-Free After Stem Cell Treatment
Tuesday, April 10, 2007

CHICAGO — Thirteen young diabetics in Brazil have ditched their insulin shots and need no other medication thanks to a risky, but promising treatment with their own stem cells -- apparently the first time such a feat has been accomplished.

Though too early to call it a cure, the procedure has enabled the young people, who have Type I diabetes, to live insulin-free so far, some as long as three years. The treatment involves stem cell transplants from the patients' own blood.

"It's the first time in the history of Type 1 diabetes where people have gone with no treatment whatsoever ... no medications at all, with normal blood sugars," said study co-author Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern University's medical school in Chicago.

While the procedure can be potentially life-threatening, none of the 15 patients in the study died or suffered lasting side effects. But it didn't work for two of them.
...
The hazards of stem cell transplantation also raise questions about whether the study should have included children. One patient was as young as 14.

Dr. Lainie Ross, a medical ethicist at the University of Chicago, said the researchers should have studied adults first before exposing young teens to the potential harms of stem cell transplant, which include infertility and late-onset cancers.

In addition, Ross said that the study should have had a comparison group to make sure the treatment was indeed better than standard diabetes care.

Burt, who wrote the study protocol, said the research was done in Brazil because U.S. doctors were not interested in the approach. The study was approved by ethics committees in Brazil, he said, adding that he personally believes it was appropriate to do the research in children as well as adults, as long as the Brazilian ethics panels approved.

The patients involved were ages 14 to 31 and newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. An estimated 12 million to 24 million people worldwide -- including 1 to 2 million in the United States -- have this form of diabetes, which is typically diagnosed in children or young adults. An autoimmune disease, it occurs when the body attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

Insulin is needed to regulate blood sugar levels, which when too high, can lead to heart disease, blindness, nerve problems and kidney damage.

Burt said the stem cell transplant is designed to stop the body's immune attack on the pancreas.
...
A study published last year described a different kind of experimental transplant, using pancreas cells from donated cadavers, that enabled a few diabetics to give up insulin shots. But that requires lifelong use of anti-rejection medicine, which isn't needed by the Brazil patients since the stem cells were their own.
...
All were newly diagnosed, before their insulin-producing cells had been destroyed.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,265135,00.html

[Psychoblues]

It is not the article but more the comment you might make that is more informational and debateable, Abbey.

Patients Living Insulin-Free After Stem Cell Treatment
Tuesday, April 10, 2007

CHICAGO — Thirteen young diabetics in Brazil have ditched their insulin shots and need no other medication thanks to a risky, but promising treatment with their own stem cells -- apparently the first time such a feat has been accomplished.

Though too early to call it a cure, the procedure has enabled the young people, who have Type I diabetes, to live insulin-free so far, some as long as three years. The treatment involves stem cell transplants from the patients' own blood.

"It's the first time in the history of Type 1 diabetes where people have gone with no treatment whatsoever ... no medications at all, with normal blood sugars," said study co-author Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern University's medical school in Chicago.

While the procedure can be potentially life-threatening, none of the 15 patients in the study died or suffered lasting side effects. But it didn't work for two of them.
...
The hazards of stem cell transplantation also raise questions about whether the study should have included children. One patient was as young as 14.

Dr. Lainie Ross, a medical ethicist at the University of Chicago, said the researchers should have studied adults first before exposing young teens to the potential harms of stem cell transplant, which include infertility and late-onset cancers.

In addition, Ross said that the study should have had a comparison group to make sure the treatment was indeed better than standard diabetes care.

Burt, who wrote the study protocol, said the research was done in Brazil because U.S. doctors were not interested in the approach. The study was approved by ethics committees in Brazil, he said, adding that he personally believes it was appropriate to do the research in children as well as adults, as long as the Brazilian ethics panels approved.

The patients involved were ages 14 to 31 and newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. An estimated 12 million to 24 million people worldwide -- including 1 to 2 million in the United States -- have this form of diabetes, which is typically diagnosed in children or young adults. An autoimmune disease, it occurs when the body attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

Insulin is needed to regulate blood sugar levels, which when too high, can lead to heart disease, blindness, nerve problems and kidney damage.

Burt said the stem cell transplant is designed to stop the body's immune attack on the pancreas.
...
A study published last year described a different kind of experimental transplant, using pancreas cells from donated cadavers, that enabled a few diabetics to give up insulin shots. But that requires lifelong use of anti-rejection medicine, which isn't needed by the Brazil patients since the stem cells were their own.
...
All were newly diagnosed, before their insulin-producing cells had been destroyed.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,265135,00.html

Great article even if it was generated through a fauxnews outlet.