A revolutionary new treatment for Type 1 diabetes has been unveiled, which involves growing insulin-producing cells in a lab and transplanting them into a patient’s arm.
In the last few decades a small number of people have had donated insulin-producing cells injected into the portal vein, which takes them to the liver. But there are supply issues and this new technique would be much less invasive.
The clinical trial is currently underway involves islet cells from human donors being transplanted just below the skin into the forearms of eight people with Type 1 diabetes.
The long-term aim is to be able to take stem cells, which have the potential to turn into almost any other kind of cell, and to coax them into becoming insulin-producing ‘islets’ which could be transplanted into the arm. However, much larger-scale testing would be needed before it could be rolled out.
The company is also developing a type of ‘nanosensor’ that goes inside the transplanted cells, which could give an early warning if the transplant is being rejected by a recipient.
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