Stem cells reverse woman’s diabetes — a world first

A 25-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes started producing her own insulin less than three months after receiving a transplant of reprogrammed stem cells1. She is the first person with the disease to be treated using cells that were extracted from her own body.

“I can eat sugar now,” said the woman, who lives in Tianjing, on a call with Nature. It has been more than a year since the transplant, and, she says, “I enjoy eating everything — especially hotpot.” The woman asked to remain anonymous to protect her privacy.

James Shapiro, a transplant surgeon and researcher at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, says the results of the surgery are stunning. “They’ve completely reversed diabetes in the patient, who was requiring substantial amounts of insulin beforehand.”

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    • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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      15 hours ago

      I like the joke, but this isn’t the time for it.
      This could save lives.
      I’m also holding my breath to see if it’s banned because stupid people think stem cells = bad for some reason.

      • tenchiken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        14 hours ago

        I get where you’re coming from, but a little dark humor is still engaging thought surrounding the news.

        And I do agree that we should be aware and concerned about the same kind of idiots doing the anti vax shuffle with this over stem cells.

        We can apparently potentially cure diabetes, but stupid is incurable.