The therapy, which is being tested in a small number of patients with Type 1 diabetes, implants a small capsule under the skin that is teeming with insulin-producing cells made from embryonic stem cells. The capsule acts like an artificial pancreas, creating insulin in diabetic bodies that can’t make their own.
Slightly Offtopic: People I know with Type 1 diabetes are slightly resentful of people with Type 2, and make pains to make clear that their diabetes is not the one associated with obesity and lack of exercise.
I'm a Type 1 diabetic. I recognize what you're talking about, though I wouldn't phrase it like that. It's not that I'm resentful of people with another disease, but rather the fact that two unrelated diseases have the same name, leading people to assume I've lead an unhealthy lifestyle because I have "Diabetes", while in reality I work very hard to stay healthy.
Edit: Actually, reading sibling reasonattlm's comment, I take it back. I do get a bit of resentment. I work very hard to manage my health and my incurable diabetes. It kills me to watch my obese acquaintances slowly work their way into acquiring this awful disease when it could be avoided with relatively little effort.
>It's not that I'm resentful of people with another disease, but rather the fact that two unrelated diseases have the same name, leading people to assume I've lead an unhealthy lifestyle because I have "Diabetes", while in reality I work very hard to stay healthy.
That's not a good assumption to make. It's probably true in most cases, but there are lots of people with type 2 diabetes who've never been sedentary or at an unhealthy weight. Sometimes it's just genetic. Also, if you have a condition that requires you to take steroids you can end up with type 2 diabetes as a side effect.
I have a friend who jokingly tells people "Yeah, I've got proper diabetes, not fat bastard diabetes."
I don't think the wish people ill who have Type 2, but I do think they want people to know it's through no fault of their own.
It's bit like if a non-smoker had lung cancer. I expect they would be at pains to make clear that they didn't catch it through smoking; that they were unlucky rather than unwise.
Type 2 doesn't need new biotech. Simple fasting works so well that you have to wonder at the vast numbers of people suffering unnecessarily because they don't just try this. Not becoming obese in the first place works even better, of course.
Not much to wonder about. Being fat in modern society is incredibly easy as food becomes increasinly addictive and laden with sugar. Sure, it's "easy" to lose weight: eat less, do more. But people don't.
These headlines are starting to annoy me. Yes, it says "possible cure", but I'd bet if you asked the companies involved if they were comfortable with the headline, they would say "no".
Very early after type 1 diabetes was discovered, doctors tried transplanting bits of pancreas to see if it could help, but the body's immune system destroyed the transplants extraordinarily quickly. If this membrane works to keep the immune system out, that could be very interesting.
I work on research into monogenic diabetes, where the beta-cells lack the working gene required to produce insulin, and I am guessing this would work on that too.
As a type 1 this sounds great, but my concern is if you have this sack of cells sitting in your body that's insulated from the immune system, what happens if some kind of infection manages to take hold inside of the sack? I don't know how common it is for instance for something like a virus to infect pancreas cells, but it seems like if one did manage to take hold inside of this "device" that could be incredibly bad. I'm also working on the assumption that this same membrane might protect it from bacterial infection, but that's also a big assumption, and if it doesn't that seems like it could be even worse.
They address this in the article, saying that "Because of the protective capsule, which is flattish and smaller than a business card, if something goes awry, the capsule can be removed immediately to prevent patient harm."
I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2001, and I was assured there would be a "cure" of some sort by the time I was 30. I'm 28 now, and as far as I can tell, there's been no significant progress towards a cure. I've long since stopped paying attention to the news; my endocrinologist will let me know if something happens.
I hear ya. I was diagnosed with a similar (not diabetes, but chronic and treatable) condition in 1995. At the time the doctor said "Don't worry. In five years we'll have a shot that cures this completely." They're no closer now than they were in 1995.
I think your endocrinologist will certainly let you know about a viable cure (or perhaps greatly improved treatment) and so I do not mean to take issue with that strategy, but they are doing human testing on this thing. That's progress!
I want a cure, like many, but I don't consider this progress - there is no breakthru, just another alternate of another previous study. Most FDA drug studies never make it from the investigational phase to studies/trials to market, like this announcement [1][2].
There have been ongoing human trials for this or that at least my entire life. And every single one of them have failed due to the researches thinking they can "trick" the immune system into accepting a foreign body/substance.
Last time around (2-5 years ago) it was "inhale" or eyedrop insulin.
Well the only issues I have is that it requires the device to be implanted and the details are scarce on what that involves. How big is this device really? Capsule is used then business card and lets be honest, there ain't much in common with the two. Can new cells be added without surgery?
The therapy, which is being tested in a small number of patients with Type 1 diabetes, implants a small capsule under the skin that is teeming with insulin-producing cells made from embryonic stem cells. The capsule acts like an artificial pancreas, creating insulin in diabetic bodies that can’t make their own.
[1]http://fortune.com/2016/02/04/diabetes-cure-johnson-viacyte/