“Promising research from The University of Toledo suggests it might be possible to cure Type I diabetes by reprogramming a patient’s own immune cells to heal the pancreas and restore the body’s ability to make insulin.”
We’ll see…
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I saw a clinical trial for this idea but you have to have been diagnosed less than a year.
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I haven’t read the above paper, but, my opinion, is a cure for type 1 DM requires reprogramming the immune system to stop targeting the Beta cells. If Dr. Jaume’s team has developed a way to do just that, then using adult stem cells from the individual to grow new Beta cells (if that is possible), I would call this a cure.
It’s five years out!
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Oh really just 5 years. Great. I’ll just wait for those magic 5 years then. Not that I’ve ever been promised 5 years before.
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I have been diabetic for almost 56 years, so this is at least the tenth “only five years away” claim I have heard. Still waiting…
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In my opinion the blame belongs on so called science reporters and not the scientist doing the research. An example is these no-nothing reporters jumping on every coffee study. It’s deadly, it’s healthy, repeat, repeat ad nausium.
I try to get the actual papers published by scientific journals. Never once have I seen a study on type 1 DM that suggested a cure. For that to happen the work would need to be peer reviewed, with a large double blind study, and maybe one or two more by other groups.
There have been a couple of possibilities to “reeducate” the immune system. This could lead to some real benefits for a host of autoimmune diseases. In any case switching off the Beta cell killers and growing new Beta cells from the individuals adult stem cells seems like the only real way to “cure” T1DM.
For T2DMs like myself, if they can switch off the genetic tendency to resist insulin and replace dead Beta cells grown from my stem cells would be great.
I don’t get worked up about it. I am happy to have the tools that help me manage, CGM, pump and Metformin.
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It’s the 5 year promise from doctors who are treating me that I hate the most. They have pretty much stopped saying it, but for a long time, I got the 5 year speech every office visit.
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I agree, Luis. I totally support research, research groups, medical studies that are peer reviewed, etc. That is the ONLY way that medical science moves forward. The truth is that we still don’t know what factors cause a person to develop diabetes while another person does not; therefore, we also do not have a clear path yet to find a cure. Personally, I have given up on a “cure” for me, but I sincerely hope that scientists can find something to prevent diabetes in healthy people who have a tendency toward developing diabetes.
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I’m not seeing where it says this is five years out? But I wonder if that may often get reported because large medical research grants are typically for five years, meaning that media coverage may misinterpret study end date as when the research, if it works, will be usable, which is often not true.
It was in jest . . When I got the diagnosis ~ 30 years ago, I heard that a cure was “just around the corner” and when I pressed, I heard about all these amazing research protocols including transplant, immune system modulation, stem cells, beta-cell encapsulation, and so on: any one of these was going to “cure” T1DM within five years. Well, I’ve heard or read that again and again, and have gotten past my serial disappointments.
Glad to be alive, that Insulin was discovered, and now that I have a CGM and pump. It’s not a cure but it’s also not death (yet!).
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The goal posts are always 5 yards (mile) further.
We are in the age of programming everything - if it can be done for the immune system & pancreas, go for it!
I’m also interested in whether anyone has or is researching the blood markers for when (in real time) the immune system is doing its dirty work to destroy the insulin-producing cells.
Here is a subsequent article from Researchers develop pancreatic beta-cell restoring therapy for treating type 1 diabetes
I know this thread is a little old but It got me searching to see if there were any updates.
This link dtd June 13, 2022 shows the research has gone further.
It looked like a big step forward. I didn’t see anything newer. There is a Endo conference coming up next month maybe we will see an update since June.
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