Diabetes Research News
July 19, 2009 by Cherie Burbach
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Here’s some exciting news for diabetics. In fact, the more I read about diabetes treatment these days, the more excited I become. A group of researchers took non-obese diabetic mice which had recently developed Type 1 diabetes, and injected them with an “anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody for five days, followed by transplantation of embryonic pancreatic tissue, and, for short-term glucose control, implantation of a subcutaneous insulin pellet.”
Most of the mice maintained normal blood sugars after the removal of the insulin pellet. The transplanted cells were shown to migrate to the pancreas of the test subjects.
Is this a cure for diabetes? Sorry – but no. Still, this is exciting research that tells more and more about how the body tolerates transplanted cells and tissue. The use of the insulin pellet in this study also showed a new approach to possible treatment in new diabetics.
Image: sxc.hu.
