The recovery of the first diabetic patient is the news that gave hope to all patients with this disease, and doctors kept repeating the saying that there is no cure for it, but the success of stem cell therapy, which achieved complete recovery in one of the patients with type 1 diabetes, people began to wonder About the details of the process of healing the first diabetic patient, and this is what the article will present in its next lines.
What is type 1 diabetes?
Diabetes, in its simplest form, is a disease in which the body is unable to regulate sugar (glucose) or use it properly in the blood. Langerhans contains multiple types of cells that produce hormones that regulate blood sugar, and most importantly, these cells include beta cells, which produce a hormone known as insulin, which is released into the bloodstream when blood sugar levels reach a certain limit, asking the cells in the body to absorb sugar, which is a major source of energy for the cells of the body.
The human body is constantly balancing the amount of sugar in the blood, as levels that are too high or too low can be harmful. In diabetes, blood sugar rises either because the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, which is type 1 diabetes, or because the cells of The body fail to respond to the insulin that is released, and this is known as type 2 diabetes.
In type 1 diabetes, the body's immune system attacks the beta cells in the pancreas. When the beta cells are lost, there won't be enough insulin to properly control glucose levels. High blood sugar levels can damage the kidneys, eyes, nervous system. and other organs, and people of all ages can develop type 1 diabetes.
How is the new treatment treated?
The new diabetes treatment is based on the use of stem cells by generating beta cells from embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), as laboratory studies have helped to better understand disease progression, possible genetic causes of the disease, similarities, and differences. Among patients, iPS cell-derived beta cells can be used to treat beta cell deficiency, providing a cure if successfully transplanted into patients. Recipients with type 1 diabetes will still face attacks from the immune system on their beta cells.
Healing of the first diabetic
Brian Shelton's life was ruled by type 1 diabetes, as soon as his blood sugar level drops until he loses consciousness without warning, which caused him many problems, but early this year, his ex-wife spotted an invitation to people For people with type 1 diabetes to participate in a clinical trial by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, the company has been testing a treatment developed over decades by a scientist who pledged to find a cure after his infant son and teenage daughter became ill.
On June 29, Brian Shelton became the first patient to receive an injection of cells grown from stem cells that are similar to the insulin-producing pancreatic cells that his body lacks. Year, the first person to recover from diabetes “It’s a whole new life,” Shelton said. “It’s like a miracle.” Diabetes experts were astonished but urged caution, the study is ongoing and will take five years, and includes 17 people with severe cases. of type 1 diabetes.
Details about the recovery of the first diabetic patient
Dr. Doug Melton didn't think much about diabetes until 1991 when his six-month-old son Sam started shivering, vomiting, and panting. He and his wife, Jill O'Keefe, took their baby to Boston Children's Hospital, who told them their baby had diabetes, which happens when The body's immune system destroys the cells of the pancreas that secrete insulin, which often begins at the age of 13 or 14, and the only treatment that has ever worked has been a pancreas transplant, or the transplantation of groups of insulin-producing cells into the pancreas, from an organ donor pancreas, but the lack of Organs make such an approach impossible for the vast majority of people with the disease.
For Dr. Milton and Mrs. O'Keefe, caring for a child with the disease was terrifying. Mrs. O'Keefe had to prick Sam's toes and toes to check his blood sugar four times a day and then had to inject him with insulin. To embryonic stem cells, which have the potential to become any cell in the body, his goal was to turn them into cells similar to pancreatic cells to treat patients, and it took Dr. Milton 20 years to successfully convert stem cells into islet cells, and Dr. Melton estimates the cost of the project at about 50 Million dollars.
At the beginning of this year, the ex-wife of Brian Shelton saw an invitation to people with type 1 diabetes to participate in a clinical trial conducted by Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Shelton had type 1 diabetes, which prompted him to participate in the test conducted by Vertex Pharmaceuticals. For a treatment developed over decades, on June 29, Mr. Shelton received an injection of cells, which grew from stem cells and are similar to the insulin-producing pancreatic cells that his body lacks, and his body today can control the level of sugar and insulin in the blood, so he is considered The world's first person cured of type 1 diabetes.