Chinese scientists and doctors have made a big discovery in treating diabetes. For the first time ever, a patient’s diabetes has been cured using a new treatment.
In a big breakthrough, a 59-year-old man with type 2 diabetes, who needed many insulin shots every day, got a special treatment. Now, he hasn’t needed insulin for 33 months and isn’t on any other medicine. This gives hope to other diabetes patients.
Innovative Chinese Diabetes Treatment Allows Patient to Live Insulin-Free
The patient, a 59-year-old man with type 2 diabetes for 25 years, was in big danger of having diabetes problems.
The patient had a kidney transplant in 2017 and had lost most of his pancreas function that controls blood sugar. He relied on many insulin shots every day.
“He was in big danger of having diabetes problems,” said Yin Hao, a top doctor at Shanghai Changzheng Hospital.
In July 2021, the patient got the special treatment. Eleven weeks later, he no longer needed insulin.
The pills to control blood sugar were slowly reduced and stopped a year later.
“Checks showed that the patient’s pancreas function got better,” Yin said. The patient has now not needed insulin for 33 months.
How Insulin Controls Blood Sugar
The big discovery, done by a team of doctors and researchers from Shanghai Changzheng Hospital, the Centre for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Renji Hospital in Shanghai, was in a journal called Cell Discovery on April 30.
“I think this study is a big step forward in treating diabetes with cell therapy,” said Timothy Kieffer, a teacher at the University of British Columbia in Canada.
Diabetes changes how our bodies change food into energy. Sugar is broken down and sent into the blood. Insulin, made by the pancreas, controls blood sugar.
In diabetes, this changes. The body doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use it right.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common kind, and it’s mostly from food and time.
Innovative Approach to Creating Pancreas Islet Tissue
Keeping blood sugar normal is very important. Not doing this can lead to problems like heart disease, bad eyesight, and kidney problems.
There isn’t a cure for diabetes yet, but insulin, along with losing weight, eating right, and taking medicine, is the best way to treat it. But this means getting lots of shots and watching.
Doctors all over are studying islet transplants as a new way. They’re mostly using islet-like cells from human stem cells.
After over 10 years of work, a group of Chinese doctors has made progress.
The team used cells from the patient’s blood, changed them into “seed cells,” and made new pancreas islet tissue in a special way, Yin said.
Kieffer’s team likes using stem cell islets for type 2 diabetes. But, Yin and his team’s report is the first proof in people, Kieffer said.
Yin said the big discovery is another step in body fix medicine. It uses the body’s own fix ways to fight sickness.
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