Note: The contents of this blog are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice or substitute for professional care. For medical emergencies, dial 911!
Posts with tag AdultStemCells
Posted Aug 23rd 2007 4:52AM by Allie Beatty
Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Research, Events, Opinion, Services, Allie Beatty, Support, Personalities
Juan Domínguez-Bendala, Ph.D., is Director of Stem Cell Development for Translational Research at the Diabetes Research Institute. Once again, thanks to Gina and Jon at Diabetes Talkfest - you'll have the opportunity to chat live with Dr. Domínguez-Bendala on August 23rd at 9pm Eastern Standard Time.
Dr. Domínguez-Bendala is currently involved in several projects that focus on the use of embryonic stem cells to obtain pancreatic islets, in the hopes that these newly developed cells could one day be transplanted into patients with type I diabetes.
Join Dr. Domínguez-Bendala to discuss his work and ask questions pertaining to embryonic stem cell research. I know I'll be there, in true form, asking questions that I've been archiving for an event like this one!
Posted Apr 11th 2007 3:29PM by Allie Beatty
Filed under: Type 1, Childhood, Drugs, Research, Daily News, Events, Services
Hold on to your seats, folks. This story is pretty controversial but fascinating enough to make an appearance on Prime Time television 2x tonight on the evening news! A treatment involving the annihilation of the immune system, followed by a period of rebuilding the immune system is being tested in Brazil as a cure for type 1 diabetes.
The patients involved were newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and between the ages of 14 to 31 years old. The 15 diabetics were treated at a bone marrow center at the University of Sao Paulo. Timing is key in this method of therapy because if you wait too long - the window of opportunity where the body's ability to repair itself closes. The procedure involves stimulating the body to produce new stem cells and harvesting them from the patient's blood. Next comes several days of high-dose chemotherapy, which shuts down the patient's immune system. This also stops destruction of the few remaining insulin-producing cells in the body. This requires hospitalization and potent drugs to fend off infection. The harvested stem cells, when injected back into the body, build a new healthier immune system that does not attack the insulin-producing cells. Patients were hospitalized for about three weeks. Many had side effects including nausea, vomiting and hair loss.
For the record (and the Freedom of Information Act) the study was partly funded by the Brazilian Ministry of Health, Genzyme Corp. and a maker of blood sugar monitoring products.
