‘Stunning’ world-first as 25yo woman ‘cured’ of common condition

In a “remarkable” breakthrough, scientists claim to have reversed a woman’s type 1 diabetes with a procedure that takes just 30 minutes.

Scientists claim to have reversed a woman’s type 1 diabetes with a pioneering stem cell transplant.

The 25-year-old had suffered from the chronic condition for more than a decade.

She previously relied on regular insulin injections, as well as closely monitoring what she ate.

But following “minimally-invasive” surgery using cells from her own body, she started producing her own insulin.

After less than three months, the woman was able to naturally regulate her blood sugar.

“I can eat sugar now,” the patient, from Tianjin, China, said.

“I enjoy eating everything — especially hotpot.”

It is understood to be the first case of its kind.

James Shapiro, a transplant surgeon and researcher at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, who was not involved with the treatment, described the results as “stunning”.

“They’ve completely reversed diabetes in the patient, who was requiring substantial amounts of insulin beforehand,” he added.

How the stem cell transplant works

The technique involves converting existing cells into personalised stem cells, which are then used to grow clusters of fresh islets.

During a 30-minute procedure, carried out in June 2023, these were then transplanted into the woman’s abdominal muscles, where they began producing hormones to help regulate sugars in the body.

Two and a half months later, the woman was producing enough insulin to live without needing top-ups, and she has sustained this level for more than a year.

She no longer experiences dangerous spikes and drops in blood glucose levels, which remain within a target range for more than 98 per cent of the day.

“That’s remarkable,” Daisuke Yabe, a diabetes researcher at Kyoto University, said.

“If this is applicable to other patients, it’s going to be wonderful.”

A woman, 25, with type 1 diabetes started producing insulin (blue) after a stem cell transplant and is now considered to have reversed her condition. Picture: Lennart Nilsson, Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, TT/Science Photo Library

Experts say she will be deemed “cured” if she continues to produce insulin in this way for five years.

The development, published in the journal Cell, builds on a related milestone in Shanghai in April.

Scientists successfully transplanted insulin-producing islets into the liver of a 59-year-old man with type 2 diabetes.

The islets were also derived from reprogrammed stem cells taken from the man’s own body.

The patient received the groundbreaking cell therapy in 2021 and has been off all medication since 2022.

What is type 1 diabetes?

The studies are among a handful of trials using stem cells to treat diabetes, which affects about half a billion people worldwide.

Some 1.5 million deaths are directly attributed to it every year, according to the World Health Organisation.

Most people have type 2 diabetes, when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin or the body’s cells don’t react properly to it.

But a proportion have type 1 diabetes, which sees the body’s immune system attack and destroy the cells that produce insulin.

A woman with diabetes wearing a small sensor on the back of her upper arm for measuring glucose levels 24/7. Picture: iStock

Islet cells can be transplanted from donors to treat the condition, but experts say there aren’t enough to meet growing demand.

Recipients must also use immune-suppressing drugs to prevent the body from rejecting the donor tissue, which limits the number of possible beneficiaries.

Scientists hope that using a patient’s own stem cells, which can divide and develop into many different types of cells, could offer “limitless” options.

However, the Tianjin patient was already taking immunosuppressants so it is unclear if similar results would be found in those not on the drugs.

This article was originally published by The Sun and reproduced with permission