New research by US researchers could offer type I diabetes sufferers some hope of a cure. Dr David Nathan and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital discovered that cells taken from the spleen can be transformed into insulin-producing pancreatic tissue. The US researchers gave diabetic mice an injection of cells obtained from the spleens of healthy mice. Shortly afterwards the diabetic mice began producing a type of insulin-secreting pancreatic cells called islet cells. It is hoped that the technique could halt the progression of diabetes, or possibly even reverse the disease in patients where the disease is fully established. The researchers hope to begin human trials of the technique soon.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Reported by www.bbc.co.uk on the 14th November 2003.
