NIH Confirms Protocol To Reverse Type 1 Diabetes 116
FiReaNGeL writes "In 2001, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital demonstrated the efficacy of a protocol to reverse type 1 diabetes in diabetic mice. New data from a study performed at the National Institutes of Health provides additional confirmation of the ability to reverse type 1 diabetes and on the role of spleen cells in islet regeneration. Spleen cells appear to contribute to islet recovery more in mice who are older and with more advanced diabetes compared with younger mice with less advanced diabetes, in which regeneration of remaining islets may be the dominant mechanism."
Re:itll be years (Score:4, Insightful)
Missing something? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Missing something? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Missing something? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:When will it get converted to real therapy? (Score:2, Insightful)
In 2001 one researcher managed to come up with a repair in mice and published. Then other scientists couldn't repeat the findings. Now a few years later we have scientists who can repeat the findings. Sounds like it is progressing very well and at a pace that you would expect it to progress at.
Master - Grasshopper, you must learn patience...
student - Yeah,yeah,yeah... How long does that take?
You know... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Missing something? (Score:3, Insightful)
Now, if you think that cancer has been cured in mice - sure, but that is old news. Cancer has probably been cured in mice a thousand times, but until we can start breeding and treating people like mice it will probably take a little longer to work out a cure in humans...
Now, there is no question that the Pharma industry focuses its efforts on profitable diseases, and not as much on ones that do not have a promise of profit. However, a cure for diabetes would make a killing, and until humans are immortal there will always be another disesase to cure. And when you discover a cure for some disease you get to profit from it for 10-15 years! By then most CEOs have retired, so they're not going to care all that much about profits 30 years down the road to care...
Re:itll be years (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:itll be years (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:itll be years (Score:3, Insightful)
OK, look at it the other way. Just because you're prepared to die to test out a new treatment doesn't mean that I'm prepared to kill you with it. We usually have to be pretty darned sure that something won't be harmful before starting testing on humans.
Re:itll be years (Score:3, Insightful)
My point is that you may indeed know a "successful" diabetic, but for every one of those there are dozens that suffer terribly. It's a degenerative disease
So, while I agree with you that it's a wonderful thing that something resembling a "cure" may be on the way, believe me, maintaining a tolerable existence is very difficult for many of those so afflicted. It's a rough disease, it really is, and it affects every aspect of your life. About six months before he died, my father said, "I think I should go off the dialysis." Apparently, renal failure is a fairly decent way to go: you drop into a coma and die shortly afterwards. I talked him out of it then, although if I had it to do over again I wouldn't.
I've also lost relatives to different varieties of cancer, and frankly, if I had to choose one or the other as my way to go
Re:itll be years (Score:3, Insightful)
Type 1 Diabetes is not fun to have, and it's not something to be shrugged off. I'm sure that some diabetics experience less problems than others, but it's not a disease to be shrugged off as if talking about a wart or a cold. My life is a bit more complex now than my pre-diabetic life; Every day I must constantly keep track of my insulin, food, and exercise, and that creates limitations. I have to do a lot of extra thought and planning when going out of the house, doing something different in my regular schedule, etc.
It's easy to forget a small detail and then have a bad blood sugar because of it. I decide to go for a longer walk one day, and in the middle of the night I wake up with cold sweats and pounding heartbeat, drag myself to the kitchen and find out I have a very low sugar. Have to eat in the middle of the night which isn't enjoyable for me, and then brush teeth etc and get back to bed and try falling asleep again.
Or hanging out with friends, and not adhering to a strict schedule, also causes problems and confusion as to diet and insulin planning.
I really hope some cure can be found, because I'm not particularly fond of the idea I may have a shorter lifespan, am a likely candidate for a heart attack when I'm older (3/4 diabetics die of heart attack), might have to get legs amputated, might go blind, etc.