Diabetic Stem Cell Research, Will It Cure Us?
Diabetic stem cell treatment that reverses type 1 diabetes and then helps type 2 diabetics as well might seem like a dream.
But nearly every day there is some exciting new thing researchers are reporting about this new kind of cell.
That is because all over the world scientists are studying them.
But the controversy over the source of stem cells has overshadowed the subject.
I did not really understand it enough to have an opinion, so I decided to find out.
What These Cells Are Diabetic stem cell treatment for us all may be far away, but it's a good idea to understand those cells themselves.
As you know, every individual cell in your body has a particular job.
Muscle cells pump blood in your heart and make you able to walk.
Nerve cells carry information.
A muscle cell can't do a nerve cell's job.
So your cells cannot do anything other than what they are assigned to do.
But this was not always so.
You began as a single cell that divided into many.
At about five days old you were an embryo, and you were made up of some very special cells.
Over the next nine months those unspecialized cells would become tissues, organs, skin, hair, everything that makes up your body now.
Since embryonic cells are not yet specialized, they can become anything.
When scientists discovered these cells, they began to study them, first in mice and then in larger animals.
Researchers wanted to figure out how to tell the cells what to become.
If they could do that, embryonic cells could be induced to make tissues to replace organs and repair damaged nerves.
But that kind of research involved the use of human embryos, lots of them.
That is where the ethical problem arose.
Human embryos "left over" from fertilized eggs when women are attempting to get pregnant are often donated for stem cell research.
Those embryos are sometimes called test tube babies, and they have raised ethical questions from the beginning.
Laws were put in place to keep human embryos from being bought and sold in the U.
S.
Thankfully, human embryos are not the only source for diabetic stem cell research.
Those special cells have been found all over the adult human body: in your muscles, your bone marrow, intestines and even your brain.
However, they are not completely unspecialized like embryonic cells.
They can only become similar cells to the tissue they were found in.
For example, bone marrow stem cells can become one of many types of blood cells including lymphocytes and red blood cells, but they cannot become nerve or muscle cells.
At least not right now.
Today there is a third kind of adult stem cell.
It is called a "reprogrammed" cell.
That's because it has been changed by use of a virus and some embryonic genes to become similar to an embryonic stem cell.
This has been done in mice, and sometimes it works well, but the virus sometimes causes those cells to become tumors.
Cancer-causing stem cells have slowed down progress on research, but scientists are hoping to find some other way to change these cells without causing tumors.
Some people are trying this therapy too soon, and it has caused brain tumors in at least one young man already.
Questions About Diabetic Stem Cell Treatment There are still so many things we do not understand about these special cells in adults.
How many places are they hiding inside us? Where did they come from? What is keeping them from becoming regular specialized cells? And what makes them wake up and replace cells that have been damaged? How can we make them become something else without causing more harm than good? That is still a problem being pursued by scientists everywhere.
Some have even falsified their research to make it seem they have found a way.
That slows things down.
And it makes people skeptical about the treatment becoming a reality for type 1 and type 2 diabetics, or anybody else.
But there was a success story in the news on Valentine's Day in 2012.
Heart attack victims were injected with their own heart stem cells in a clinical trial, and scar tissue was reduced by half over time.
That has never been done before, and it demonstrates the promise behind diabetic stem cell research.
Right now there are only a few approved therapies, mostly involving bone marrow transplants of stem cells for blood diseases and immune system problems, but diabetes researchers are pushing forward as well.
And you can find companies right now that are selling those therapies.
It's a buyer beware situation, as there is nothing illegal about using your own stem cells to help you.
The question is "does it work?" And there are other things you ought to know before you spend any money.
First, adult stem cells are not able to turn into every kind of cell in your body, so one type of stem cell treatment won't work for a condition of another type.
If someone claims a single stem cell treatment will cure "everything," that should raise a flag for you.
Research and clinical trials move forward at a maddeningly slow pace because new medicine isn't just about whether things work but whether they are safe.
The young man who has tumors in his brain because stem cells were injected there is an example.
Another thing - these cells must be taught what to do.
They need instructions on what they are going to become, and we don't know how that works yet.
Testimonials are not a good way to judge the safety of treatment.
And just because the cells came from your body does not mean the procedure is safe.
It is true that your own stem cells should not be rejected by your body, but removing and injecting cells has risks.
There is the possibility of infection with a bacteria or virus, of damage to tissues around the sites, and of causing tumors.
Experimental treatment is just that - experimental.
And the costs can be very high.
If you are chosen to join a clinical trial, usually everything is free: the treatments, doctor's visits, supplies, all of it.
So be clear on what you are getting into with any kind of research and treatment.
If someone asks you for money, it's not a clinical trial.
Diabetic Stem Cell Treatment Is Coming Research on this subject has a fast learning curve.
Little discoveries and breakthroughs are being reported almost daily.
For example, in one treatment trial lymphocytes were separated from a type 1 diabetic's blood and exposed to donor cord blood from a stranger.
Then the patient's lymphocytes were returned to his body.
His need for insulin dropped and his hemoglobin A1C fell a full percentage point.
This happened to several patients, and the small trial was named "stem cell education therapy.
" That's because the diabetic lymphocytes stopped destroying beta cells.
They seemed to have learned not to attack their own insulin-making cells simply by contact with the donor cord blood.
You see? If we can be patient, we may see some incredible things arise from diabetic research.
Meanwhile, let's keep working toward our own diabetes cure of exercise and changing our eating habits.
It's been proven to work over and over, and the side effects are all good.
To your health!
But nearly every day there is some exciting new thing researchers are reporting about this new kind of cell.
That is because all over the world scientists are studying them.
But the controversy over the source of stem cells has overshadowed the subject.
I did not really understand it enough to have an opinion, so I decided to find out.
What These Cells Are Diabetic stem cell treatment for us all may be far away, but it's a good idea to understand those cells themselves.
As you know, every individual cell in your body has a particular job.
Muscle cells pump blood in your heart and make you able to walk.
Nerve cells carry information.
A muscle cell can't do a nerve cell's job.
So your cells cannot do anything other than what they are assigned to do.
But this was not always so.
You began as a single cell that divided into many.
At about five days old you were an embryo, and you were made up of some very special cells.
Over the next nine months those unspecialized cells would become tissues, organs, skin, hair, everything that makes up your body now.
Since embryonic cells are not yet specialized, they can become anything.
When scientists discovered these cells, they began to study them, first in mice and then in larger animals.
Researchers wanted to figure out how to tell the cells what to become.
If they could do that, embryonic cells could be induced to make tissues to replace organs and repair damaged nerves.
But that kind of research involved the use of human embryos, lots of them.
That is where the ethical problem arose.
Human embryos "left over" from fertilized eggs when women are attempting to get pregnant are often donated for stem cell research.
Those embryos are sometimes called test tube babies, and they have raised ethical questions from the beginning.
Laws were put in place to keep human embryos from being bought and sold in the U.
S.
Thankfully, human embryos are not the only source for diabetic stem cell research.
Those special cells have been found all over the adult human body: in your muscles, your bone marrow, intestines and even your brain.
However, they are not completely unspecialized like embryonic cells.
They can only become similar cells to the tissue they were found in.
For example, bone marrow stem cells can become one of many types of blood cells including lymphocytes and red blood cells, but they cannot become nerve or muscle cells.
At least not right now.
Today there is a third kind of adult stem cell.
It is called a "reprogrammed" cell.
That's because it has been changed by use of a virus and some embryonic genes to become similar to an embryonic stem cell.
This has been done in mice, and sometimes it works well, but the virus sometimes causes those cells to become tumors.
Cancer-causing stem cells have slowed down progress on research, but scientists are hoping to find some other way to change these cells without causing tumors.
Some people are trying this therapy too soon, and it has caused brain tumors in at least one young man already.
Questions About Diabetic Stem Cell Treatment There are still so many things we do not understand about these special cells in adults.
How many places are they hiding inside us? Where did they come from? What is keeping them from becoming regular specialized cells? And what makes them wake up and replace cells that have been damaged? How can we make them become something else without causing more harm than good? That is still a problem being pursued by scientists everywhere.
Some have even falsified their research to make it seem they have found a way.
That slows things down.
And it makes people skeptical about the treatment becoming a reality for type 1 and type 2 diabetics, or anybody else.
But there was a success story in the news on Valentine's Day in 2012.
Heart attack victims were injected with their own heart stem cells in a clinical trial, and scar tissue was reduced by half over time.
That has never been done before, and it demonstrates the promise behind diabetic stem cell research.
Right now there are only a few approved therapies, mostly involving bone marrow transplants of stem cells for blood diseases and immune system problems, but diabetes researchers are pushing forward as well.
And you can find companies right now that are selling those therapies.
It's a buyer beware situation, as there is nothing illegal about using your own stem cells to help you.
The question is "does it work?" And there are other things you ought to know before you spend any money.
First, adult stem cells are not able to turn into every kind of cell in your body, so one type of stem cell treatment won't work for a condition of another type.
If someone claims a single stem cell treatment will cure "everything," that should raise a flag for you.
Research and clinical trials move forward at a maddeningly slow pace because new medicine isn't just about whether things work but whether they are safe.
The young man who has tumors in his brain because stem cells were injected there is an example.
Another thing - these cells must be taught what to do.
They need instructions on what they are going to become, and we don't know how that works yet.
Testimonials are not a good way to judge the safety of treatment.
And just because the cells came from your body does not mean the procedure is safe.
It is true that your own stem cells should not be rejected by your body, but removing and injecting cells has risks.
There is the possibility of infection with a bacteria or virus, of damage to tissues around the sites, and of causing tumors.
Experimental treatment is just that - experimental.
And the costs can be very high.
If you are chosen to join a clinical trial, usually everything is free: the treatments, doctor's visits, supplies, all of it.
So be clear on what you are getting into with any kind of research and treatment.
If someone asks you for money, it's not a clinical trial.
Diabetic Stem Cell Treatment Is Coming Research on this subject has a fast learning curve.
Little discoveries and breakthroughs are being reported almost daily.
For example, in one treatment trial lymphocytes were separated from a type 1 diabetic's blood and exposed to donor cord blood from a stranger.
Then the patient's lymphocytes were returned to his body.
His need for insulin dropped and his hemoglobin A1C fell a full percentage point.
This happened to several patients, and the small trial was named "stem cell education therapy.
" That's because the diabetic lymphocytes stopped destroying beta cells.
They seemed to have learned not to attack their own insulin-making cells simply by contact with the donor cord blood.
You see? If we can be patient, we may see some incredible things arise from diabetic research.
Meanwhile, let's keep working toward our own diabetes cure of exercise and changing our eating habits.
It's been proven to work over and over, and the side effects are all good.
To your health!
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