(NewsNation) — In a clinical trial, researchers in China say they have successfully treated a patient with late-stage type 2 diabetes using stem cell-derived islet cells transplanted into the liver.
In 2021, The New York Times reported on a 64-year-old man who seems to have been cured of type 1 diabetes through the same treatment.
The study, published in the journal Cell Discovery, demonstrates that autologous stem cell-derived islet tissue can restore insulin production and significantly improve blood sugar control in a diabetic patient.
Islets, also called islets of Langerhans, are clusters of cells within the pancreas that produce hormones, like insulin, to help regulate blood glucose levels.
The 59-year-old male patient had suffered from type 2 diabetes for 25 years and developed end-stage diabetic kidney disease, requiring a kidney transplant in 2017. Despite the transplant, his blood sugar levels remained poorly controlled, putting him at risk for complications that could jeopardize his new kidney.
To treat his impaired islet cell function, the research team generated functional islet-like clusters, called “E-islets,” from the patient’s own endoderm stem cells derived from blood cells. After extensive safety testing, around 1.2 million E-islet cell equivalents were transplanted into the patient’s liver through the portal vein.
The results were striking. Within just 2 weeks, the patient’s blood sugar variability improved dramatically, and his time spent in the target blood glucose range increased from 56.7% to 77.8%. By 12 weeks, he was spending 90% of the time in the normal range.
Remarkably, the patient was able to completely stop insulin injections after 11 weeks and discontinue oral diabetes medications by 1 year post-transplant.
His long-term blood sugar control and hemoglobin A1c levels normalized to non-diabetic levels, and no severe hypoglycemia events occurred during the entire 116-week follow-up period.
Tests confirmed that the transplanted E-islets were producing biologically relevant levels of insulin and c-peptide in response to meals. No tumors or serious adverse effects were observed.
While a larger clinical trial is still needed, the researchers are optimistic that pluripotent stem cell-derived islet transplants could one day provide a functional cure for many patients struggling with insulin-dependent diabetes without an available pancreas or islet donor.