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Chinese scientists develop cure for diabetes, insulin patient becomes medicine-free in just 3 months (m.economictimes.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/world

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[–] Soulfulginger 80 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

I literally worked in a research lab working on islet cell therapies for diabetes in the US. This has actually been done many times before with cells from cadavers. It has been successful, although most the of the time the person reverts back after a few years

The issues we were trying to solve in the lab were

Finding a good place to transplant where the cells will last: Implanting in the hepatic region (liver), which is the most common place to implant, is toxic to the cells over time hence only lasting 3-5 years. The cells need a really good blood supply and the volume you're transplanting can't be easily transplanted in the pancreas or kidney capsules (where many successful studies were performed in mice and rats)
Being able to consistently make a high volume of stem cells that are fully grown into insulin producing cells: Cadaver cells usually require 3-5 donors for 1 person and require the receiver to be on lifelong immunosuppresors due to the immune response. Depending on the kind of stem cells, the patient may still even need immunosuppresors due to the cell type you're converting from

All this the say - the article says nothing about where the cells where transplanted, where they came from, or whether the person has Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. Although it is still a feat, it is likely not the first time it has been done, and we're still a long ways off from a cure

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (2 children)

"The new therapy involves programming the patient's peripheral blood mononuclear cells, transforming them into "seed cells" to recreate pancreatic islet tissue in an artificial environment."

I don't see anything for the other two questions though but being patient derived would seem to fix your number 2.

[–] Soulfulginger 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily negate the requirement for immunosuppresors or some other kind of immuno protection. If it is Type 1 diabetes, the person originally became diabetic because the immune system saw certain markers on the beta cells (insulin producing cells) as a threat. So, if you recreate the beta cells, there is still a possibility that it will happen again. You are fighting your own immune system. Someone in our lab was studying encapsulation of cells to create a protective barrier around them for this very issue

If the person was Type 2, this might be less of a risk since type 2 can also be due to high insulin resistivity. There are a lot of other factors involved, though, it's not straightforward

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

1 patient, T2 since mid-30s and now 59, had kidney transplant 2017 after end-stage diabetic nephropathy and fucked glucose control since 2019. The successful cells were endoderm stem cells from him cultivated by mice they injected with his PBMCs that they then made diabetic. So not from cadavers (except mouse cadaver i guess), which is the actual new part here. Intrahepatic implant, and cells from unrelated donor failed that were embedded at the same time. His personalised mouse-donor cells worked well enough to take him off insulin 3 months later.

Wu, J., Li, T., Guo, M. et al. Treating a type 2 diabetic patient with impaired pancreatic islet function by personalized endoderm stem cell-derived islet tissue. Cell Discov 10, 45 (2024).

It's good news, but you're entirely correct that the article missed the point entirely. Thanks for the crash course in islet cell therapy!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Yeah they don't say the type but based just on what we are discussing I would be a bet its type 2.

[–] Zehzin 1 points 7 months ago

would seem to fix your number 2.

Hehehehehe

[–] yokonzo 2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Interesting. So if you chose the hard route (implant in the pancreas through invasive surgery) would that effectively cure you? I'm betting many people would be willing to take the risks

[–] Soulfulginger 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

The pancreas is not really stable enough to be implanted in at all. Other organs you're imagining like liver, stomach, heart, etc. have a solid lining that can be cut open and stitched back together. The pancreas is more like a cluster of loose cells with veins throughout and held together by a very thin, tissue paper lining. If you try to open it and insert cells, you're not going to be able to put it back together.

That's why cells are usually put in the liver, which has a large vein going directly to the pancreas. Close proximity and high blood supply. Implanting in the pancreas will likely never be an option unless you can drastically reduce the volume of cells.

Our lab was working on implanting the stem cells on a porous scaffold in the fat pad of the stomach as an alternative

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

Short answer is no, not long-term.

[–] [email protected] 63 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Interesting, but that headline is misleading.

A single patient was weaned off blood sugar medication over a year and hasn't redeveloped diabetes in almost three years.

There's obviously a lot more research into the cell therapy process and many more patients are going to have to undergo this therapy in controlled conditions before we can call it a new cure.

Right now, this is an interesting medical anomaly that occurred over more than a year of treatment in which someone's pancreatic process was restored in correlation with a new cell therapy.

[–] FlyingSquid 13 points 7 months ago

Interesting, but that headline is misleading.

As is standard for science stories, especially medical stories, in the media.

This is how big of a problem it is: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/6/15/18679138/nutrition-health-science-mice-news

[+] [email protected] -6 points 7 months ago (3 children)

First human trial for a treatment strategy passed (notably, we know that placebo treatments for diabetes fail). This more than passes the bar to justify further large-scale human trials and, clinically, is a very strong indicator of success.

What, is it not a cure until it's available to the public?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I mean, the guy is correct… there are plenty of cases where someone has recovered from something that doesn’t have widespread impact.

That doesn’t make this any less, but a good dose of scepticism is pretty healthy when it comes to broad statements like ‘cures diabetes’

Edit: too many versions of ‘healthy’ haha

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago

It justifies, in fact begs for human trials, but a single unregulated data point from a single moment is hardly a cure.

It becomes a cure after the treatment is isolated from mitigating factors and acutely applied to the same disorder in many patients in controlled conditions with peer-reviewed and independently confirmed repeatable results over time.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

Well, the phrase is, "the plural of anecdote is not statistic." In this case, we only have a single case, so it doesn't even escape "anecdote." I think at that point, there isn't yet a scientific basis to call it a "cure."

[–] Rayspekt 41 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Insulin-selling companies are sending out hitmen this very second.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The scientist who discovered the cure just recently died of a severe fever

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The pain was so unbearable he shot himself in the back of the head three times.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

And jumped out a top floor window, what a pity

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

His research associates also died of grief.

[–] Libertus 19 points 7 months ago

Until there is proof or external verification of the results, it's just another case of Chinese propaganda.