What is stem cell research for diabetes?
If it were effective, stem cell replacement would simply be a case of swapping insulin-producing cells from a healthy pancreas with those destroyed by diabetes in a diabetic patient. However, numerous complications preclude this as a simple treatment. Pancreas transplants are one form of procedure that has proven effective. However, the demand far outstrips supply and the procedure is expensive. Furthermore, to prevent the immune system from rejecting a new pancreas, the patient must take immuno-suppressant drugs. Doctors and scientists have tried to cure the disease through injections of pancreatic islet cells. Unfortunately, due to the need to suppress the immune system, only a small proportion of these therapies are effective. One study, from Edmonton, Canada, has given rise to something called the ‘edmonton protocol,’ a method that is thought to be more effective but is nevertheless hard to duplicate. Islet cells are not readily available, and must be obtained from cadavers within
