Closer and closer to a cure?
Latest research holds promise for reversing the most severe form of diabetes
To the million or so Americans with type 1 diabetes, the notion of one day being disease-free seems too good to be true. But, says David Sutherland, M.D., Ph.D., it could become a reality in the foreseeable future.
Sutherland directs the Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation, the University of Minnesota's focal point for research aimed at advancing the transplantation of insulin-producing islet cells to cure diabetes. Since it was founded in 1994, the institute has made great strides in refining whole-organ pancreas transplants and islet transplants to more effectively treat type 1 diabetes. This past winter, associate director Bernhard Hering, M.D. announced the results of a landmark study that moves them closer than ever to a possible cure: They successfully reversed diabetes in 12 monkeys by transplanting islet cells from pigs.
Brian Flanagan, Ph.D., acting director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's islet biology and transplantation program, calls the report — along with one from an Emory University team also looking at pig islets — "milestones."
"We were very encouraged by those papers," Flanagan says. "It is a significant step forward. But we're certainly not at the end yet."