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Towards end insulin bites diabetics?:
What if a simple infusion was enough to release millions of patients from the daily burden of insulin? In addition, A new therapeutic advance, still experimental but promising, could well forever transform the treatment of type 1 diabetes. Furthermore, Presented in The New England Journal of Medicinethis approach put on pancreatic cells cultivated in the laboratory. Furthermore, capable of naturally restoring insulin production.
Autoimmune disease, a centenary treatment – Towards end insulin bites diabetics?
Type 1 diabetes affects more than 8 million people worldwide. Nevertheless, Unlike type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, this form is not linked to a sedentary lifestyle or food, but to a failure of the immune system. In addition, This one attacks the beta cells of the pancreas. Moreover, responsible for the production of insulin-a vital hormone which allows the glucose to penetrate the cells and to be used there as towards end insulin bites diabetics? a source of energy.
Without insulin, sugar accumulates in the blood, causing serious complications: nervous, renal, ocular, even coma. In addition, For more than a century. Nevertheless, the only solution is based on the daily administration of insulin, by injections or via pumps, accompanied by meticulous monitoring of blood sugar. A treatment that saves lives, but does not perfectly imitate the natural regulation of the body.
A radical solution: replace lost cells – Towards end insulin bites diabetics?
In 2023. an important first step was taken with the authorization of cell therapy using pancreatic islets taken from organ donors. These islets contain the famous beta cells. A significant advance, but hampered by the rarity of donors and the variability of the quality of grafts.
It is to overcome these limits that the American Biotech Vertex Pharmaceuticals has bet on an even more ambitious solution: to produce these pancreatic islets in the laboratory. towards end insulin bites diabetics? from human stem cells. A technical feat that opens the way to a large -scale production, standardized, and theoretically unlimited.
Spectacular results
In a clinical trial conducted with 14 patients with type 1 diabetes. 12 received a full dose of these cells, now called Zimislecel. A year after the infusion. 10 of them were able to completely interrupt their treatment with insulin, while the other two reduced their doses from 60 to 70 %.
How does it work? Injected into the liver – which. surprisingly, seems to be an environment favorable to their establishment – the cells manufactured in the laboratory detect the level of blood sugar and secrete insulin accordingly, independently. For patients, this means a return to an almost natural glycemic balance.
These human island cells, created in the laboratory from stem cells, are part of a new therapy for people with type 1 diabetes. Credits: Vertex Pharmaceuticals
The limits of the approach
But this advance is not free from challenges. Like any transplant, this therapy requires immunosuppressive treatment for life to prevent the body from rejecting new cells. These drugs can lead to side effects: nausea, diarrhea, increased vulnerability to infections … Two deaths have been identified in the study, without direct link with treatment, according to researchers.
This is why many scientists. including Giacomo Lanzoni of the University of Miami, underline the urgency of developing solutions that are not based on long -term immunosuppression. Tracks are already explored. such as encapsulate cells in towards end insulin bites diabetics? devices that protect them from the immune system, or genetically modify the grafted cells to make them invisible to the body.
Towards a therapeutic revolution?
Vertex therapy, although still at the experimental stage, is already extended to a cohort of 50 patients. The company hopes to submit a marketing authorization request from 2026, based on the results of this extended study. If everything goes as planned, this method could represent the first curative therapy of type 1 diabetes.
More than a medical innovation. it is a paradigm shift: moving from a palliative treatment – artificially maintain insulin – to a real regeneration of the body’s natural functions.
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