Type 1 diabetics can’t produce the insulin they need to metabolize sugar, necessitating multiple insulin injections per day just to stay alive. There is no cure. But researchers at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, this week reported amazing results using diabetics’ own blood stem cells.

 

In Type 1 diabetes, which affects approximately 3 million Americans, immune cells attack insulin-making beta cells in the pancreas. For the new treatment, researchers used drugs to produce blood stem cells, then removed them and froze them. They then administered drugs and antibodies to kill off the patients’ immune cells and re-infused the patients with their own blood stem cells.

 

Of 15 newly diagnosed diabetics receiving the treatment, 14 stopped needing insulin and have remained insulin-free for up to 36 months -- and counting.

 

Researcher Julio C. Voltarelli termed the results “very encouraging.” Although the scientists say more study is needed, there is reason for hope.

 

“The time may indeed be coming for starting to reverse and prevent Type 1 diabetes,” said University of Miami diabetes researcher Dr. Jay S. Skyler.