Stem cells help Type-1 diabetes patients produce insulin

It has been 100 years since Canadian scientists discovered insulin as a treatment for Type-1 diabetes. For millions of patients around the world, regular insulin injections remain the only treatment.

But what if there was a better option?

A stem cell replacement treatment discovery — by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Vancouver Coastal Health — offers new promise.

“Seeing the results from the first clinical trials, we knew right away that it has the potential to eliminate the need for insulin injections altogether — and transform the management of Type-1 diabetes once and for all,” Dr. Kieffer, a UBC professor of cellular and physiological sciences, explains.

Using technology developed in collaboration with partner ViaCyte, Dr. Kieffer and Dr. David M. Thompson, a clinical assistant professor of endocrinology and the principal investigator for the study in Vancouver, implanted patients with wafer-thin devices equipped with millions of lab-grown stem cells that are ‘coached’ into making insulin, the hormone that controls a person’s blood sugar.

Six months after implantation, the stem cells had not only survived but successfully matured into insulin-producing beta cells.