Type I Diabetes Ping List
FR mail me to add yourself! (Type IIs welcome, too.)
Thanks to Blue Jays for the heads-up.
Posted on 11/11/2006 11:04:13 PM PST by batter
Scientists have used stem cells from human bone marrow to repair defective insulin-producing pancreatic cells responsible for diabetes in mice.
The treatment also halted damage to the kidneys caused by the condition.
Researchers from New Orleans' Tulane University are hopeful it can be adapted to treat diabetes in humans.
The study, featured in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was welcomed as "interesting work" by Diabetes UK.
Stem cells are immature cells which have the capacity to turn into any kind of tissue in the body.
The US team treated diabetic mice who had high blood sugar and damaged kidneys.
One group of mice were injected with stem cells. After three weeks they were shown to be producing higher levels of mouse insulin than untreated mice and had lower blood sugar levels.
The injections also appeared to halt damaging changes taking place in the glomeruli, the bulb-like structures in the kidneys that filter the blood.
Researcher Dr Darwin Prockop said: "We are not certain whether the kidneys improved because the blood sugar was lower or because the human cells were helping to repair the kidneys.
"But we suspect the human cells were repairing the kidneys in much the same way they were repairing the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas."
Growing problem
Dr Prockop said his team were planning to carry out trials in patients with diabetes.
"The physicians will be selecting patients with diabetes whose kidneys are beginning to fail.
"They will determine whether giving the patients large numbers of their own adult stem cells will lower blood sugar, increase secretion of insulin from the pancreas and improve the function of the kidney."
An estimated 2.2 million people in the UK have diabetes, and the numbers are growing.
Of this total, around 250,000 have insulin-dependent, or Type 1 diabetes.
The rest have Type 2 diabetes, which is closely associated with obesity.
Dr Angela Wilson, research director at Diabetes UK, said: "This is interesting work in an exciting area of diabetes research.
"Theoretically, pancreatic beta cells produced from a patient's own bone marrow could be used to treat diabetes, overcoming the requirement for immunosuppression following islet transplantation.
"However, a way to prevent transplanted cells from being destroyed by the body is needed as this is why Type 1 diabetes develops in the first place."
It infuriates us to no end that all the attention (and push for funding) is on embryonic stem cell research (no cures). Attention should be on adult stem cell research (72 cures) where progress is being made without killing human life!
No cures for embryonic stem cell research, but an awful lot of tumors.
And a plethora of MSM and politician attention. Adult stem cells...who cares? It just makes me mad.
From the mad department, that makes two of us.
Expect real treatments to use the patient's own stem cells, thus avoiding transplant issues, and greatly simplifying regulation.
And there's the whole thing in a nutshell! If you are using the stems cells of the patient, you can't slap a patent on it and charge $9385747348575873.79 per dose!
That's one of the highlights of this research, IMO. No immunosuppression.
I pray every day for a cure to be found.
It's late and I need rest. Adios until tomorrow.
My 12 yr old son was diagnosed 3 years ago. I asked him one day if he thought it was OK to kill embryos to get stem cells to someday, maybe, but not for sure cure his diabetes.
He said, "Why would you kill someone to allow me to live? Jesus did that once, and that was enough for me?"
I'm type II. This is quite interesting.
"And there's the whole thing in a nutshell! If you are using the stems cells of the patient, you can't slap a patent on it and charge $9385747348575873.79 per dose!"
I broke the code, and have been saying this for years. Follow the money...
Thanks for posting it. I saw it on BBC and was going to post it, but didn't get around to it.
It's very interesting article and it seems the results are very promising.
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"I'm type II"
Try to stop eating sugar, refined white flour and things made with them. Add some exercise, and it will go a long way toward the problem.
I know you must worry, and think of the future, so let me tell you this:
ous son was diagnosed 20 years ago. He was 8 1/2. Despite some pretty rocky times, his control is excellent, and has been for years. He's 6'1", & very strong . He went on the pump about 8 years ago...he just got married...and he runs, cycles in the Rockies, participating in all sorts of demanding races. He's
I've been thinking about this a lot the past few days, because his bride's youngest nephew was just diagnosed last week. The little boy is only 3.
I do appreciate all that's going on with the research, and the effort of many to get the word out on which research is productive, and which is not.
Reading, hearing about all the distortions really just adds to the distress and heartbreak which all these chronic diseases bring with them.
It would still cost money to have this kind of treatment, regardless of whether the treatment protocol / product was patented or not. this is not the crux the of the matter at all.
Zach is going through the beginning stages of puberty. His readings are all over the place. His A1C came back around 9.0 last week which is extremely unusal since he has been close to 7-7.5 most of the time. Two days ago he went to bed around 140, a little higher than his target range of 120. We woke him up and he was shaking and lathargic. Tested him and he was 27. He is also on the pump. Looks like another change in his basil rate is due. Doc said puberty would wreak havoc on his rates.
As far as diabetes goes, he doesn't let it interfere with having a normal life. He plays Basketball and baseball. Swimming is no problem either. He goes to camp every year at Cedar Lake Bible Conference Center and Moses Cheeks Diabetes Basketball Camp sponsored by the Bulls. This year we put him on a plane to New York to go to Word of Life Camp up in Schroon Lake. He won the WOL Steadfast Award which gave him the free week at camp.
His outlook on life is this: He will not let his diabetes deter him from accomplishing all that God has for him to do.
I don't worry about him too much. He has great faith in a great God and that was the first and most important thing he needed to know in life. Everything else is in God's hands. No man dies before the appointed time that God has given him. My son knows this. He is determined to make the most of his time on earth. Cure or not.
Praise God for your son! He has faced his diabetes head on. I will pray for him that his determination remains strong.
"this is not the crux the of the matter at all"
Yes it is... The money to be made is through drugs. In order to market a drug, you must be able to mass produce it. You cant do that if the treatment has to be customized for each patient.
Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.
God bless your son. A very wise young man.
Thank You
Adult stem cells come from you. No rejection problems, no drugs, no break down. They actually are a cure rather then a patch that gives you a small extension but with major drawbacks.
Yes, there are times when the control is not there, and you just don't understand it, despite everything you've done...hormones & growth spurts seemed to cover it!
You are so right about the worry part. And I'm glad you've learned that lesson!
Wow, I remember the very instant I realised that either I was going to put aside all the worries and obsessing about this, that, and the other thing, or I was going to go crazy. AND how would THAT benefit my dear son?
It was a lesson which applies to so much in life, too. Let go, and let God take the burden.
Our son enjoyed summer camp for a few years too.
We all learned to balance his needs with the whole of our lives, together as a family and individually.
We learned perspective, commonsense, trust and so much else. Definitely the "lemon/lemonade" lesson.
Somewhere along the way, you realize you've raised a child who happens to have diabetes, not necessarily a diabetic child...
Thanks for your comments! Take care, and all the best to you, him, and the rest of your family.
Diabetes In Mice Cured Using Non-Embryonic Sources
Adult Pancreas Stem Cells Can Make Insulin
Pig Cells 'May Reverse Diabetes'
New Applications For Cord Lining Stem Cells - Diabetes And Wound Healing Stem Cells May Help Bergen Boy Fight Diabetes
Diabetes In Mice Cured Using Non-Embryonic Sources Diabetes Foundation Loses Its Way The Pro-Abortion Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Adult Stem Cell Research Breakthrough Produces Insulin For Diabetics
In the traditional pharmacological sectors and markets this is true, but you are describing stem cell therapies that are NOT based on traditonal paradigms. Nor are they limited to current mass market paradigms. Growing new organs for patients from totopotent cells THEY posses would not be "mass market" viable either. Yet this emerging industry and technique is coming. You seem to be starting your hypothesis on a flawed premise and making several erroneous assumptions.
Hope or hype? Which is it? Con job?
My 15 yo son was dxed at age 2 1/2. He just completed his Eagle project a few weeks ago.
The above also brings up another question (in my mind): since these cells come from the actual patient (rather than donor) will success improve the current 1 in 7 figure? Will the genetically identical 'own body' cells suppress or be ignored by the autoimmune response (note: medical folks believe something triggers the response, but they are not certain what that may be)?
I really don't see this as a sham study but a good one. Time will tell.
Your heartfelt statements of support to one another are wonderful. Yet another reason why FR is such a great place to come to.
It turns out we have other autoimmune diseases in the family. (thyroid, Addison's, alopicia) Looking into all that, I found this:
http://autoimmunedisease.suite101.com/blog.cfm/1534
Here's one small part of the article that you may find interesting:
"However, patients with diabetes who begin to experience unstable or poorly controlled glucose levels should be tested for both adrenal and thyroid antibodies. Patients with APS2 often develop other autoimmune conditions although these disorders are less likely to occur in APS2 compared to APS1. These disorders include vitiligo, myasthenia gravis, thrombocytopenic purpura, Sjogren's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, alopecia, hypergonadotropic hypogonadism, pernicious anemia, atrophic gastritis, hypophysitis, and primary antiphospholipid syndrome."
I'm taking my son in at the end of the month to make sure the rest of his endocrine system isn't messing up his blood sugar.
He's 13 and puberty isn't helping his situation!!
One more thing! As a parent to a parent I have to ask you one thing; how do you sleep? I've got myself on a 2-10AM sleep schedule to make sure he's stable through the night. He gets himself off to school in the morning and can pretty much take care of himself during the day. Other parents keep reassuring me that he'll wake up naturally if he's low, but three nights ago I found him wandering in the kitchen, eating a pickle. He was like a sleep walker. I tested him and he was 43. He was in *no* condition to make a decision, or even realize he was low. I know I can't trust his brain to function when he's like that.
I know that many parents of diabetic children are single or work. I can't imagine how they deal with the nights.
Actually, encapsulated Islets take care of that problem. But then you wouldn't need to bother with developing Islets from the patient's own stem cells. Xenotransplantation would be cheaper and more readily available.
"As a parent to a parent I have to ask you one thing; how do you sleep?"
Zach is homeschooled so we don't have a strick schedule. Most of the time he's in bed by 11:00 but usually reads or does some schoolwork for a while. We try to get him up between 7:30 and 8:00.
My wife hits the sack around 10:00. I'm usually "uptoolate" till around 1:00 or 2:00. We both make sure Zach checks his blood sugar. He's on the pump so with that reading of 27 the other night we thought it best to cut back on his Basil rate. Rather have him a little high than too low. This was the first time he's ever been that low during the night. Although he did sleep in 'till 10:30. That's 2 1/2 hours of inactivity while his pump is programmed to give him a higher dose of insulin because he is usually active.
It is all trial and error. What works this year may not work the same next year due to changing body chemistry.
When it is all said and done, the last thing I do before closing my eyes is pray for him and us and just leave him in God's hands. Zach is God's child. I'm only watching him 'till Jesus says the mansion is ready for occupancy.
I'm surprised you don't see this...
I am a microbiologist and I am afraid I see alternative business models and revenue streams proposed, for future treatment regimes and protocols you are apparently unaware of. revenue models are not dependent on generic protocol. Many existing models exist in areas of medicine that disagree with your opinion.
"I am a microbiologist and I am afraid I see alternative business models and revenue streams proposed, for future treatment regimes and protocols you are apparently unaware of"
So... What business models and revenue stream would make fetal stem cells a better choice than adult cells? Why the push for fetal?
Hey, he's got it! Praise The LORD!!!
And not only to have this kind of treatment but to develop it - who's going to pay for the expensive r&d the safety trials and efficacy studies etc if the use of the patients own cells isnt somehow remunerative to those underwriting the research?
What will be required to take adult stem cell 'cures' from academic to practical application? Surely good cures if they are on the horizon should be encouraged to come ASAP but how can we make sure they will? I can't imagine anyone really would want to have to use embryonic stem cells if there is a better alternative using adult stem cells from the patients themselves?
Or is that too naive?
Hmmmm...well if not a mass market paradigm then what paradigm IS this "emerging industry and technique [that] is coming" going to use instead???
Since I have my own concerns about the future of the conventional mass market paradigm, as you know, I'd be interested in what paradigm shift you anticipate in this case.
Your preaching to the choir :-) I am a catholic, in any event religious beliefs or not, I would never be able to reconcile my conscience with the immoral harvesting of stem cells from fetal donors. Any potential benefit would not be worth the loss of human life.
Concerning the utilization of fetal stem cells? A significant dollar spend on R&D has been made by many investors and private as well as public companies. Making a positive ROI on that investment is the main cause of the push with fetal stem cell research. In other cases scientists believe their particular application requires fetal stem cells. From what I have read, each case can only be judged on a case by case basis, or on the merits of the empirical data supporting one or the other white paper in this domain. There is no "blanket statement" that promotes fetal stem cells, adult stem cells or synthesized stem cells (see research in India and Taiwan in August 2005 NEJM for that one)over one another. Much as I would like that to be the case. It is important to look at the overview objectively without emotive or cognitive bias. it's hard to do that when science is murdering unborn children, however the battle will be won by reasoning in peer review, sadly it's doubtful that any ethical oversight will prevent utilization of human fetal stem cells in the future.
I am glad you ask, but I must clarify this point, and create a common definition as there is a danger of miscommunication.
"mass market" in my opinion refers to applications that are able to be positioned to a larger target user group, or consumers. It also implies a market landscape that is broad perhaps horizontal rather than vertical, yes? This would be the opposite of niche or specialist market positioning, Yes?
It does not in my opinion, also imply a "one size fits all" product segmentation. It could contain also entry level, mid range and high end segments. In the case of our discussion, mass market in pharmaceutical applications is certainly a single product position targeting a large or largest possible target consumer group.
However stem cell research is not only going to produce pharma applications, far from it.
Stem cell research will provide applications such as organ synthesis, bone marrow, tissue and platelet farms. these are applications that will be largely prohibitive in cost to the consumer because, of the requirement to customize his product for HIM. There is a mass market appeal for the kind of service or product, as everyone will want it or desire it. There is no small or niche market community or target user group interested in such a product. However there is no generic protocol for it's production it cannot be "mass produced" NOT "mass market" the wrong term is being bandied about in this debate in my opinion.
Mass production however is a constraint that will be overcome not via production efficiency or any other technological development. However it will be overcome by financial services innovations. At the moment startups are recruiting even at my university to compel doctoral and graduate students to join companies at the forefront of this research. It is happening with a higher and higher frequency. The sales spiel is very good they are very slick. The revenue model will be based on an "insurance" premium payed by a client, that provides organ repositories / banks, or platelet farms or whatever the application, to be prepared in advance to the paying customer, should he need to avail himself of the services he is subscribing to. It's going to lead to ethical dilemmas in the future, some of which have been portrayed in visionary science fiction novels and movies.
The term "Stem Cell" should be banned unless prefaced by either "Adult" or "Embryonic"!
It's as meaningless as saying "pole" without specifiying North or South.
Yes it is wonderful to know that all my children have realized their need for a Savior.
In addition to our 12 yr old diabetic, we also have a 6 yr old and are in the process of adopting a 13 yr old.
The attacks by the enemy have increased in the last months. Zach has had the ruff time with his blood/sugar control (A1C in the 9's). Adam the 6 yr old has been hospitalized twice last month for dehydration. We appearantly are finding out that when he vomits, he can not stop. He looses any liquids he tries to take almost immediatly. Shantel, our new adoptee has just become a believer since living in our house. She was sexually and physically abused by her previous adoptive parents since the age of nine. She had been up and down emotionally. Counciling has helped. But mostly I see her reading the Scriptures and afterwards she is peaceful.
We have been doing a home discipleship program recently and doing devotions every night. Appearantly we've made somebody mad.
Please pray that we will come out victorious in our trials and testing.
Well imo stem cell research originated organ synthesis would certainly be preferable to a Niven-esque 'organlegging' dystopia where social 'undesirables' are 'harvested' for their organs [hmmm isn't that what is happening to Falun Gong in China right now :-(] if that is the kind of sci-fi dilemmas you are speaking of but isnt an insurance model to pay for it predicated on a premise that there is an actuarial probability that not everyone who pays in will need to be paid out for? It would seem to me that the utility of organ synthesis would be so wide that eventually everyone would want/need to tap into the organ banks which would then make an insurance model fail once there is no one NOT using them? Which would seem inevitable especially as the population 'greys'?
Have I missed something?
stem cells harvested from carcinomas???
Most of the presentations I have seen, mention a subscription service, with segmentation for various levels of investment from the consumer. i doubt the premiums are on a parity with insurance models. More likely they are similar in nature to an amortized subscription service based on estimated or projected future demand. With the subscription offering affordability on a quarterly pay plan and a discount over time. rather than paying on demand for instance, which i assume would be the luxury of the high end customer.
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