Adult stem cells may help treat diabetes

From Chicago Public Radio:

A cutting-edge adult-stem-cell treatment may be able to repair damaged organs in people with type-one diabetes. It’s helped some diabetics get off insulin for years. Northwestern University’s Richard Burt has used the same idea to treat other diseases, like Lupus and Multiple Sclerosis.

He uses chemotherapy to demolish a person’s immune system…then he re-injects the patient with his or her own blood stem cells. It’s gotten results in diabetics before, but there were questions if the improvement really came from the treatment itself. Burt says his new findings show that it works.

BURT: This was no, quote, honeymoon period due to really good diet and exercise and close medical care, but an actual ability of the pancreas to make and produce insulin. The trial included 23 patients, 20 were able to get off injected insulin at least for a while and 8 of them for 2 years or more. Burt cautions the treatment still needs to go through full clinical trials.

His findings are out April 14 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.