Diabetes Talking » Diabetis » Pancreas islets transferred succesfully to the liver ….
Pancreas islets transferred succesfully to the liver ….
Question:
Hi! did the article actually say it was her own pancreas or a donor’s. If she is type 1 she doesn’t have any insulin producing cells in her pancreas.
I’m sorry, I’m not really sure if she’s Type 1. But I’m sure the article mentioned that it was her own pancreas, that’s why she recovered fast (no rejection). Greg
Response:
Hi! I just read in the paper today about a Type-1 woman whose pancreas had to be removed, but was given islets (sorry, can’t remember the exact term) scraped from her pancreas and injected into her liver. The news said she’s getting better, and is starting to eat solid foods after months of being on intravenous infusion 24 hours a day. Does this sound good to you guys? I got so excited by this news because it seems to imply that curing diabetis (say, ten years from now) could be as simple as transferring these islets to one’s liver, and diabetis will be no more. Who needs the pancreas? Your comments are well appreciated. Thank you! Greg
Response:
—–BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE—– Hash: SHA1 so excited by this news because it seems to imply that curing diabetis (say, ten years from now) could be as simple as transferring these islets to one’s liver, and diabetis will be no more. Who needs the pancreas?
If your beta cells are injured or dead in your pancreas, they won’t come to life when they’re put into your liver. There’s already research into replacing dead beta cells, both from human donors and from pigs, with promising results as well as big problems (immunosuppressant side effects, low supply of replacement cells, high cost). And the possibility of growing new beta cells from stem cells that won’t have any immunosuppressant problems is intriguing. Of course this may be a cure for T1s, but for T2s the best it can be is a way to get very advanced T2 cases back to less advanced T2 cases, but certainly not a cure. (And since T2s are 90% of us, even the most hopeful investigating in this direction wouldn’t call it a cure.) —–BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE—– Version: PGP 7.0.4 Comment: Public key at http://hawthorn.mystarband.net/f-pgp.txt iQA/AwUBPd4kOabqL6lCLyfTEQJLmQCfT65cCSZo372FjrhUyS4PN0xJP2wAnjhw At3sDPFZf49pWntnVoC22mnJ =NneV —–END PGP SIGNATURE—– — "It is more uplifting to find the beauty, wonder, spirituality, and reverence in what we can see, than to imagine they only exist in what we [[ Type 2, diagnosed 2002-10-04 ]]