Good News: Potential Diabetes Cure With Cell Therapy; Will It Work In India?

New Delhi: Here is some encouraging news for millions of Indians who suffer from diabetes.

Researchers in China have reported a potential cure of blood sugar, widely considered to be a ‘siIent killer’, using cell therapy.

The study, published in the journal Cell Discovery, outlines the successful treatment of a man with type 2 diabetes.

The 59-year-old man, who battled diabetes for 25 years, had to take daily insulin injections. He then underwent an innovative cell transplant in July 2021.

Lab-grown replicas of insulin-producing islet cells, found in pancreas, were created and then transplanted into the patient.

Within eleven weeks, the man no longer required external insulin, reported the South China Morning Post.

Over the following year, the patient gradually reduced oral medication for blood sugar control, and eventually discontinued tablets.

Regular follow-up tests confirmed a restored function in the man’s pancreatic islet cells, which has allowed him to live without medication for over 33 months.

Though this is a single-patient case study, experts feel it’s a significant breakthrough in diabetes treatment.

It remains to be seen if experts in India take note and try to take it forward.

Large-scale trials are definitely needed to confirm the efficacy and safety of this line of treatment, but Professor Timothy Kieffer, a researcher at University of British Columbia, called it “an important advance in the field.”

According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), an estimated 537 million adults aged 20-79 had diabetes by 2021. The number is projected to jump to 643 million by 2030 and 783 million by 2045. In other words, 1 in 8 adults globally may have diabetes by 2045.