Diabetes can be handled carefully but no treatment is available yet. Many people around the globe have controlled diabetes with diet, drugs, and exercise.
However, diabetes is causing severe problems in many people including kidney failure, loss of vision, cardiac disease, etc. Some scientists believe that transforming stem cells into cells that secrete insulin could bring hope. Stem cells and Diabetes have a strong relationship with each other.
According to the International Diabetes Federation, almost 400 million people in the world suffer from diabetes and this figure is projected to grow to almost 600 million by 2035.
For several years, researchers have been escaped from understanding the root causes of diabetes. The key is usually understood as to how the immune system leads to the destruction of valuable beta-islets cells in the pancreas of type 1 diabetics. And the stem cell research directs a new way for diabetes treatment.
What are stem cells
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that have the potential to differentiate into various types of cells. Stem cells for the treatment of diabetes can come from, embryo, bone marrow, placenta, and umbilical cord.
Research from Washington University School of Medicine
Previously scientists have transformed the stem cells into beta cells, they became successful in this transformation but there occurred a problem for scientists, they were unbaled to regulate the amount of insulin produced by these beta cells.
Then the team from Washington University school of medicine has produced beta cells that can produce insulin in response to blood glucose levels. Researchers have successfully transplanted these beta cells in diabetic mice, insulin produced in mice.
Can this method be reliable in humans?
Researchers now consider the time to assess whether the same approach to stem cells can lead to insulin production and control blood sugar in people effectively. Researchers have used another way for producing beta cells they have programmed skin cells from a diabetic person back to stem cells.
In some cases, too much insulin was released and, in another case, insulin was not released.
None of these cases are ideal for people’s management of diabetes. The new beta cells were, however, much more effective in this analysis. This research provides diabetes researchers with a new and exciting direction.
Can this concept produce insulin, and in humans work well? There should be clinical trials but, first, scientists need to develop a way to safely test cells in humans.
