Embryonic stem cell research may hold help for diabetics.
Certain types of pancreatic cells produce insulin, a hormone needed to regulate blood sugar, and a new type of medical implant can help diabetic patients control their blood sugar.
The device, a type of envelope filled with embryonic stem cells, will be implanted under the skin, at which point the cells become pancreatic cells.
ViaCyte Inc., a San Diego-based company, is producing the implants.
Eugene Brandon, one of the company's directors, told the Los Angeles Times that ViaCyte has already used the technique to cure diabetes in hundreds of mice. "We're essentially creating a replacement pancreas," Brandon says of the procedure.
ViaCyte hopes to begin human trials with the implants by 2013, with funding helped by $26 million in grants and loans from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, the state's stem cell funding agency.
Patients with Type 1 diabetes typically rely on insulin injections or an insulin pump to regulate their blood sugar. The approach works, but can be inconvenient and difficult to adhere to.
Dr. Vivian Fonseca, of Tulane University in New Orleans and the American Diabetes Association's president-elect for medicine and and science, told the LA Times that "What people want is a single, one-time cure. I don't see that happening in the foreseeable future." But, he added, stem cell treatments might be a step in the right direction.
