Chinese Doctors Bring Hope to Diabetes Patients with Cell Therapy.
The patient in the trial is a 59-year-old man who has been battling type 2 diabetes for 25 years and is at high risk of serious complications from the disease. He underwent a kidney transplant in 2017 but had lost most of his pancreatic function, which helps control blood sugar levels, necessitating multiple insulin injections each day.
Yin Hao, the lead researcher at Changzheng Hospital in Shanghai, told The Paper, a Shanghai-based news outlet, earlier this month: “He is at high risk for serious diabetes complications.”
Changzheng Hospital in Shanghai, along with other institutions, has been researching groundbreaking diabetes treatment methods.
In July 2021, the patient agreed to participate in a trial program for improved cell transplantation. Eleven weeks after the transplant, he no longer needed insulin injections and was able to reduce his blood sugar medication dosage. A year later, he stopped taking medication entirely.
“Our follow-up tests show that the patient’s pancreatic function has been effectively restored. The patient has been completely off insulin for 33 months,” Dr. Yin reported.
This medical breakthrough, the first of its kind in the world, was achieved by a team of doctors and researchers from organizations including Changzheng Hospital, the Center of Excellence for Molecular Cell Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Renji Hospital, all based in Shanghai. The findings were published in the journal Cell Discovery on April 30.
Timothy Kieffer, a professor in the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology at the University of British Columbia in Canada, commented: “I think this research represents a significant advance in the field of cell therapy for diabetes.”
Diabetes is a chronic condition that affects how the body metabolizes food into energy. Food enters the body, is broken down into glucose—a simple sugar—and then enters the bloodstream. The pancreas produces insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. In diabetes patients, this system is compromised. The body either does not produce enough insulin or does not effectively use the insulin that is produced.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form, affecting nearly 90% of patients. It develops over time and is largely related to diet. Regardless of the type of diabetes, failing to maintain normal blood sugar levels can lead to severe side effects, including heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is currently no definitive cure for diabetes worldwide. Besides weight loss, healthy eating, and medication, insulin is the primary treatment for patients. They must inject the medication and monitor their levels regularly.
China has 140 million diabetes patients.
Scientists around the world are researching islet transplantation as a promising alternative solution. The mechanism involves creating islet-like cells from human stem cell cultures. Now, after more than a decade of work, the team of Chinese doctors has moved one step closer to this method. They plan to recruit more volunteers to expand their research.
Yin noted that scientists have used and programmed the patient’s peripheral blood mononuclear cells, then converted them into “seed cells” to recreate pancreatic islet tissue in an artificial environment. He believes this research is a significant advancement in the relatively new field of regenerative medicine, where doctors fully harness the body’s self-healing capabilities to treat diseases.
Globally, China has the highest number of diabetes patients. According to the International Diabetes Federation, the country has 140 million diabetes cases. Among them, approximately 40 million rely on lifelong insulin injections.
