Islet Cell Implant From Mother Cures Diatebetes In Woman
Related News: Stem Cells and DiabetesThis is a bit off topic, but as we know in the focus of stem cell research, this kind of news will be affected .. hopefully in the near term. Slashdot is discussing an announcment from Kyoto, Japan, where a Japanese woman has been seemingly been cured of diabetes via a donor transplant of insulin-producing cells from her mother.
Now these are not stem cells, these are directly her mother's islet cells. Additionally, this is one of the first times an islet cell transplant from a living donor has actually worked.....
Three months after the operation at Japan's Kyoto University Hospital, both mother and daughter are fit and well.
Last month, a 61-year-old man became the first person in the UK to be cured of type 1 diabetes in this way.
Dr Shinichi Matsumoto and colleagues said islets from living donors have the advantage of being more viable and more likely to function properly.
In the past, islet cells from cadavers or dead donors have been used, but have not had a great deal of success in overall treatment. Additionally, in this case and the case of living islet cells, there is still the issue with transplant rejection or Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD).
For those of you interested in this kind of research .. here are several links:
Posted on April 20, 2005 12:12 PM