Therapy May Jumpstart Type 1 Diabetics' Insulin Production

Right now in the United States, about 1 million people suffer from type 1 -- or juvenile -- diabetes. This type of diabetes can be extremely hard to treat, requiring careful control of blood sugar levels with insulin injections.

But a new procedure offers promise in reversing the effects of type 1 diabetes.

Since age 5, Sherry Crocco has had type 1 diabetes. Her condition includes hypoglycemia unawareness, meaning her body can no longer tell when her blood sugar levels are too low, and she can suddenly pass out.

"I'm with the kids -- do they know how to call 911? If mommy can't wake up, this is what you need to do," Crocco said.

People with type 1 diabetes can't produce islets, the cells that make insulin to control blood sugar levels. Crocco enrolled in a University of Minnesota study that transplanted islet cells from a donor cadaver pancreas into her body. She was one of eight women with type 1 diabetes to receive the transplant.

The study findings appear in this week's theme issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association on medical applications of biotechnology.

"All eight recipients became diabetes-free and insulin-independent after islet transplantation and were protected from hypoglycemia episodes after transplantation," said Dr. Bernhard Hering, of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

That means no more insulin shots and no more fainting spells, at least initially. Hering and his colleagues tracked the eight patients for a year after transplant.

"Five of eight recipients have remained diabetes-free and insulin-independent at the end of the one-year follow-up period of the study," Hering said.

The doctors used a catheter to send the islet cells into the liver and blood stream. Doctors have performed pancreas transplants to give diabetics islet cells, but in this procedure, the cells for all eight patients came from eight cadaver glands -- a single donor for each patient.

"Now we really see that cell therapy can reverse diabetes," Hering said.

The cell transplant takes only about a half-hour, but patients must keep taking strong drugs to stop their bodies from rejecting the donor cells.

Still, Crocco has one word to describe living essentially diabetes-free: "Awesome."

Hering stresses that this is not a cure for diabetes, and researchers must conduct more, larger studies to be sure the cell transplants are safe and effective. But Hering said this study is a promising look at what sort of diabetes treatments may be possible in the future.

Study Abstract