Diabetes Reversed In A Woman Through Stem Cell Therapy—A World’s First

“I can eat sugar now,”

These were the exact words of a 25-year-old woman who received a reprogrammed stem cell transplant over a year ago, and she does not require insulin anymore. Instead, the reprogrammed stem cells help her produce her own insulin, effectively reversing type 1 diabetes—a first in the world.

The study published in Cell on 26^th September follows the trail of a separate group in Shanghai, China. The group reported in April that they had successfully transplanted insulin-producing islets into a 59-year-old man with type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes affects almost half a billion people worldwide, and the cases are of two types. In type 1 diabetes, the body’s immune system attacks the islet cells of the pancreas, which are responsible for producing insulin. In type 2 diabetes, the body fails to produce enough insulin, or there is insulin resistance, in which the cells respond poorly to the hormone and take in less sugar.

Islet transplants can cure diabetes, restoring regular insulin production. However, the demand for such transplants is hardly met. On the other hand, stem cells can provide a limitless supply of pancreatic tissue, as stem cells can be cultured indefinitely.

Deng Hongkui, a cell biologist at Peking University in Beijing, and his colleagues extracted cells from patients with type 1 diabetes. They reverted these cells to induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and then used them to generate clusters of islet cells. The efficacy of the islets was tested in mice and non-human primate models.

In June 2023, about 1.5 million islet cells were introduced into the abdominal muscle cells of the recipient, and two and a half months later, she was producing enough insulin to keep her glucose levels in check.

According to Jay Skyler, the islet cells introduced in the woman’s body must generate insulin for up to 5 years to be considered a cure. Deng says that he will expand the trials to another 10 to 20 individuals after delivering successful results. Right now, we are inching closer to a world that might be free from diabetes.