Korede Abdullah
Diabetes treatment has recorded a breakthrough as a Chinese was reportedly cured of Type 2 diabetes for the first time, academics in China have claimed.
According to Diabetes.co.uk, a website dedicated to diabetes research, enlightenment and treatment, in 2021, a 59-year-old man underwent a life-changing cell transplant and since 2022 he has been medication free – now for a total of 33 months.
The experimental procedure entailed generating synthetic pancreatic cells, which are responsible for producing insulin and regulating blood sugar levels.
It was reported that the man lost nearly all of the activity of these cells, called islets, after developing type 2 diabetes 25 years ago. He needed numerous insulin injections each day to keep himself from going into a diabetic coma because he was considered to be at high risk of fatal complications.
To stop himself from going into a diabetic coma, he had to inject insulin multiple times per day because he was deemed as high risk. Type 2 diabetes can be put into remission, but this is the first case of the condition being cured, according to the researchers.
During the treatment, the scientists tested a new chemical cocktail that was able to turn stem cells into brain, muscle, kidney and even pancreatic tissue.
Stem cells create insulin – a hormone made in your body that helps manage blood sugar levels. People with diabetes do not produce enough insulin in their pancreas to regulate blood sugar. However, by adding the new, lab-grown cells, the man could start to produce his own insulin again, the study has shown.
Professor Timothy Kieffer of Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences University of British Columbia, who was not involved in the study, had this to say: “I think this study represents an important advance in the field of cell therapy for diabetes. After they test it in more people, they’ll need to find a way to scale up their operation.”
