Curious to know more about stem cell therapy for diabetes type 1 and why is it blocked in united states?
Spoke to a Stem Cell of America executive recently but wasn't very convinced but that surely produced an urge to know more.
http://stemcellofamerica.com/documents/blocked-in-the-usa.pdf
Has someone of you experimented or researched about it? please let me know
Thanks
Because stem cell treatment is dangerous, in fact more dangerous than the risks of well treated T1 diabetes. Currently no ethics commission in the world would allow stem cell treatment for T1 diabetics. Methods like DNA modifications or stem cell therapy have only been allowed for people that have no other chance to survive. Our good life expectancy makes it hard to justify the potential risks from these treatments in my opinion.
I would have to agree with Holger, being a major organ transplant recipient myself, I'm forced to live a lifestyle that is extremely dangerous, taking drugs that are known to cause kidney failure and over time guarantee Cancer. All of this was explained to me before my transplant but with 12 -18 months of life left it was not a bad choice for me.
I have seen what many people go through to get Stem Cell Therapy for leukemia and it is barbaric and risky but it's their last chance for a cure....only by Gods grace will they survive without it...
I was just reading about this. A company in San Diego, ViaCyte hopes to begin human trials next year for a treatment that could essentially cure type 1 diabetes. The article does not lead one to believe that this is a risky procedure, however it doesn't actually "cure" diabetes. Here is a quote from the article:
"Part of the excitement about ViaCyte's approach is that the cells would be contained in a porous and synthetic envelope that is inserted just under the skin. The circulatory system plugs into the device, called Encaptra, which is smaller than a business card and performs like an artificial pancreas. It would contain insulin-producing beta cells while it allows blood to flow in and insulin to flow out. With the cells inside, it also can be frozen and stored or shipped to doctors anywhere.
"The device resolves two of the greatest challentes facing most stem cell treatments. First, it protects the cells from the body's immune system, which often rejects stem cell treatments. Second, regulators are expected to be more comfortable - and perhaps quicker to approve - a treatment that contains the experimental cells in a retrievable package instead of letting them roam around the body."
You can read the rest of the article here:
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/03/5229742/can-stem-cell-treatment-cure-type.html
hey thanks a lot for posting this i am really glad & excited to see the stuff.
What about "cord blood" that was banked during birth. Has anyone used that for T1 in children? Is that dangerous?
Stem cells are found in Cord blood. These cells are capable to specialize to any type of cell found in the human body. To achieve this specialization of the cell some questionable treatments are necessary. This will alter which sections of the DNA will be more active. Although this might read as a very controlled process the quality of the outcome is hard to verify. The resulting cell could function as a beta cell but might show other unwanted activities as a side effect. Once brought into the patient the cells will he hard to stop. Even cancer is a possible side effect.
But imagine it will work perfectly. Since T1 is an autoimmune condition the new cells will be attacked too. This is because the root cause of T1 is not fixed. Perhaps the approach to recode the DNA of muscle cells by activating their DNA sections for glucose sensing and insulin production will be more successful. At least the immune system will still recognize them as muscle cells not beta cells. But again virus strategies to alter the DNA are far from safe or reliable. From the perspective of the virus just the reproduction counts. But from the perspective of the patient the side effects of unwanted alterations of the DNA might be critical due to our longer life expectancy. To me this has great potential but at the same time it is pandora's box.
It really annoys me that no one seems to be addressing the autoimmune causes. I have other problems caused by my autoimmune condition that are worse than my T2 diabetes, and worry that another attack could do me in. When you don't know the cause, you can't avoid it, can you? But the doctors just blame all the other stuff (neuropathy that happened practically overnight, amyotrophy, autonomic neuropathy) on diabetes. I'm firmly convinced the diabetes is just another effect of the autoimmune problem, not the cause of everything else. To a T1, it might be too late to discover the autoimmune cause, but it seems like knowing that information could prevent others from having it. Sorry about the rant, it's been a rough day stumbling over my own totally numb feet.