Incredible news for type 1 diabetes!

[Tahminar Mahmud]

For anyone with type 1 diabetes, this news is very exciting.

A woman with type 1 diabetes received a transplant of lab-grown insulin-producing cells, and now she does not need insulin anymore.

She has been insulin-free for over a year. The cells were made from her own fat tissue using a new chemical method.


For anyone who likes reading the technical stuff, here’s the official research paper:

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)01022-5

(I’m not sure if anyone mentioned this last week, but I just came across it and had to share.)

 

[Inka]

Thanks @Tahminar Mahmud That patient was on immunosuppressants. I know she needed them anyway so was a good choice for the trial, but for most people the cons of immunosuppressants outweigh the pros. Until the transplanted islets can be protected from the auto-immune attack, any cure is incomplete IMO.

 

[Rob Oldfield]

Thanks @Tahminar Mahmud That patient was on immunosuppressants. I know she needed them anyway so was a good choice for the trial, but for most people the cons of immunosuppressants outweigh the pros. Until the transplanted islets can be protected from the auto-immune attack, any cure is incomplete IMO.

To be fair, it does say that the study indicates that further research is justified. No outrageous claims that I can see.

 

[Inka]

To be fair, it does say that the study indicates that further research is justified. No outrageous claims that I can see.

I didn’t say it made outrageous claims. I said any cure that requires immunosuppressants is incomplete - because the immunosuppressants have bad side effects. Until encapsulation or immune modification of some kind is perfected, a cure is still incomplete and, just as now, it would be unlikely it would be offered to many or taken up by many people.

 

[Tahminar Mahmud]

I didn’t say it made outrageous claims. I said any cure that requires immunosuppressants is incomplete - because the immunosuppressants have bad side effects. Until encapsulation or immune modification of some kind is perfected, a cure is still incomplete and, just as now, it would be unlikely it would be offered to many or taken up by many people.

It’s exciting to see something working in real life, even if it’s not perfect yet. Every breakthrough has its hurdles, but this feels like a huge leap from where we were even a few years ago. Here’s hoping future versions solve the immune issue!

 

[Inka]

It’s exciting to see something working in real life, even if it’s not perfect yet. Every breakthrough has its hurdles, but this feels like a huge leap from where we were even a few years ago. Here’s hoping future versions solve the immune issue!

Yes, there have been various successes with transplanted cells over the last few years. There was talk of putting them in arms very recently. The Edmonton Protocol uses the portal vein as described, if I’m remembering correctly. There was a recent trial in the US where someone came off injections. Again, he needed immunosuppressants.

There are a number of angles - getting the islet cells (eg trials of growing them in the lab) - safe implantation and keeping them alive, and then protecting them from the immune attack.

My ideal solution would be lab-generated islets that lacked whatever the immune system is honing in on. I’m sure I read some research into this, or discussion about the possibilities at least.

 

[Jasmin2000]

My ideal solution would be lab-generated islets that lacked whatever the immune system is honing in on. I’m sure I read some research into this, or discussion about the possibilities at least.

These "hypo-immunogenic" islets have been made and successfully tested in mice and macaques and so there's no reason the principle shouldn't work in humans. And hypo-immunogenic human stem cells have been around for a few years.

I think we're past the point of 'does it work' and are moving towards optimal survival conditions, scaling and of course, pricing. The latter will be a bloodbath for the insulin monopolies and I expect they will be ready to put billions in when the first human trials are done in order to save their market.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

The process of islet cell transplantation has been improving for many years now.

Often people can be partially or fully insulin independent for something like 5 years (with immunosuppressants).

I’d not come across this new way of creating insulin-producing cells so it is interesting to hear about that @Tahminar Mahmud

Great to hear progress is being made alongside other promising avenues like smart insulin, and stem cell therapy.

We are living in exciting times!