Autologous stem cell therapy for Diabetes: an exciting new frontier opens Rajkumar J S, Dhanasekaran M, Indumathi S, Lissa R P Lifeline Multispeciality hospitals, Chennai, India Corresponding author: chairman@lifelinehospitals.com
Online published on 2 July, 2012. Abstract There has been nearly a century long search for the elusive cure of diabetes mellitus. While insulin replacement remains the cornerstone treatment for diabetes mellitus, the transplantation of pancreatic islets of Langerhans has the potential to become an important alternative. However, islet transplantation has been hampered by a shortage of donors and immune rejection. Stem cells have been an enigmatic area of research and progressive effort has been made in order to provide treatment for various devastating disorders, inclusive of diabetes mellitus. Among the promising sources of autologous stem cells, major strides have been made to generate insulin producing cells in vitro from bone marrow and adipose tissue. Several exciting reports had emerged exploring the potential of these aforesaid stem cells as an alternative diabetic therapy. Despite continuous efforts and rigorous assessments, there has been scepticism in accepting stem cells as therapy for diabetes. We herein disclose these uncertainties in this report, thereby bringing stem cells into the world of diabetology, to consider a cure for diabetes mellitus. We hope that the power of generating enough new beta-cells from adult stem cells will be realized in the near future, thereby serving as a saviour for diabetics all over the world. Top Keywords Autologous stem cell, Bone marrow, adipose tissue, diabetes, beta cell. Top |