Cure For Type 1 Diabetes Imminent After Harvard Stem-cell Breakthrough

Cure for Type 1 diabetes imminent after Harvard stem-cell breakthrough

A cure for diabetes could be imminent after scientists discovered how to make huge quantities of insulin-producing cells, in a breakthrough hailed as significant as antibiotics.
Harvard University has, for the first time, managed to manufacture the millions of beta cells required for transplantation.
It could mean the end of daily insulin injections for the 400,000 people in Britain living with Type 1 diabetes.
And it marks the culmination of 23-years of research for Harvard professor Doug Melton who has been trying to find a cure for the disease since his son Sam was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a baby.
“We are now just one pre-clinical step away from the finish line,” said Prof Melton.
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Asked about his children’s reaction he said: "I think like all kids, they always assumed that if I said I'd do this, I'd do it,
"It was gratifying to know that we can do something that we always thought was possible.”
The stem cell-derived beta cells are presently undergoing trials in animal models, including non-human primates, where they are still producing insulin after several months, Prof Melton said.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition that causes the pancreas to stop producing Continue reading

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Even If You're Lean, 1 Soda Per Day Ups Your Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes

It's true that being overweight or obese is a leading risk factor for developing Type 2 diabetes.
But attention, skinny and normal-weight people: You may be vulnerable, too.
Lots of lifestyle choices influence the risk of diabetes: everything from whether you smoke to how much you exercise (or don't). It turns out, what you choose to drink is also a risk factor.
A new study published in the British Medical Journal finds that people in the habit of drinking one sugar-sweetened beverage — such as a soda or sweetened tea — every day had an 18 percent increased risk of developing the disease over a decade. That's compared with people who steer clear of sugary beverages.
The researchers reached this estimate by pooling data from 17 previously published studies that had evaluated the link between sugary drinks and diabetes risk.
And here's what upends conventional thinking: After the researchers adjusted their estimates for body weight, they found that — even for thin or normal-weight people — one sugary drink per day was associated with a 13 percent increased risk.
"So even if people are lean, if they continue consuming sugar-sweetened beverages, they have a greater likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes," study author Fumiaki Imamura, of the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, told us.
The studies he looked at were observational, so they can't prove cause and effect. But the link between sugary drinks and diabetes is solid, since researchers say they understand the biological mechanisms of how too much sugar can overwork the endocrine system.
As we've Continue reading

Sugary drinks may cause type 2 diabetes regardless of size, research says

Sugar-sweetened drinks such as colas and lemonades may play a part in the alarming rise of type 2 diabetes in the UK and the US, according to new research – regardless of whether people are obese or not.
Researchers from Cambridge University said they also found a link, albeit weak, between type 2 diabetes and people who drink fruit juices or “diet” drinks containing artificial sweeteners. These are not a good substitute for sugar-sweetened drinks, they say. “Unsweetened coffee and tea or water may be the healthy option,” said Fumiaki Imamura, from the Medical Research Council epidemiology unit at the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine.
The paper follows the final recommendations of the government’s scientific advisory committee on nutrition (SACN), which on Friday urged a cut in added sugar consumption to no more than 5% of a person’s diet. In particular, the independent advisers said, people should cut down on the amount of sugar-sweetened fizzy drinks, soft drinks and squash they consume.
The Cambridge team, who have published their research in the British Medical Journal, say they cannot prove that too many sweetened drinks causes type 2 diabetes from the evidence they were able to gather. But, if one assumes causality, “the current consumption of sugar sweetened beverages was estimated to cause approximately 2m excess events of type 2 diabetes in the USA and 80,000 in the UK over 10 years. This could cost nearly £12bn in the USA and £206m in the UK,” they write.
Links between obesity and type 2 diabetes are largely accepted. The res Continue reading

Chemical Found In Ayahuasca May Be Able To Completely Reverse Diabetes

Diabetes currently affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. In America alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that number to be approximately 20 million. Potential cures and methods to reverse the disease are showing some promising results, and one of them is a chemical that’s commonly found in a number of plants around the world. It’s also a main ingredient in the psychoactive mixture commonly known as ayahuasca.
Diabetes is an autoimmune disease that prevents a person’s pancreas from producing insulin, which is a hormone that enables people to receive energy from their food. This occurs when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, which are called beta cells. Apparently, the cause is not well understood, but scientists believe that genetic and environmental factors play a role. Modern day mainstream science tells us that there are no cures.
Again, types 1 and 2 diabetes affect some 380 million people worldwide. Both ultimately result from a deficiency of functional pancreatic insulin-producing beta cells, which is where this chemical is showing the most promising results.
New research published in the journal Nature Medicine – a study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, funded by JDRF and the National Institutes of Health – found that:
“Using three different mouse and human islet in vivo–based models, we show that harmine is able to induce beta cell proliferation, increase islet mass and improve glycemic control. These observations sugg Continue reading

MGH Researcher’s Diabetes Quest Takes Big Step

The FDA approves the second phase of Dr. Denise Faustman’s clinical testing of a type 1 diabetes vaccine, an exciting next step in her pursuit of a therapy to reverse the disease.
After nearly 20 years of research, Massachusetts General Hospital researcher Denise Faustman, MD, PhD, has made a promising advance in her quest to cure type 1 diabetes.
Her team recently passed a major threshold by receiving FDA clearance to test a large group of long-term diabetics with an old tuberculosis vaccine that could also combat type 1 diabetes. The phase 2 trial of the bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine was announced last month at an American Diabetes Association conference in Boston, an exciting next step in Dr. Faustman’s pursuit of a therapy to reverse the disease.
“We’re in full action mode. The phones are ringing off the hook.”
While thrilled about receiving the FDA’s blessing, Dr. Faustman and her staff didn’t celebrate for long. They’re already accepting applications for patients who want to participate in the five-year trial that starts this summer.
We’re in full action mode. The phones are ringing off the hook,” Dr. Faustman says. As many as 100,000 diabetics are expected to volunteer for the clinical trial, but the MGH Immunobiology Laboratory will winnow the number of participants to 150 adults, with some receiving BCG and others taking a placebo.
Old Vaccine, New Promise
The FDA approved the phase 2 trial essentially by certifying MGH’s use of BCG that will be produced by the Japanese government. Academics usually don’t have to look around the wo Continue reading