Have Scientists Found a Cure for Type 1 Diabetes?

By Published on January 25, 2016

A cure for Type 1 diabetes is a step closer after scientists managed to halt the condition for at least six months thanks to insulin-producing cells.

Experts from US hospitals and institutions including Harvard University managed to transplant cells into mice, which immediately began producing insulin.

The team was also able to show they could prevent the cells being rendered useless by the body’s own immune system, which was effectively ‘switched off’ thanks to scientific work.

It means a cure for Type 1 diabetes — which affects 400,000 people in the UK — could be much closer.

Scientists are now working to replicate the results in people with the condition.

The findings build on the news at the end of 2014 that experts had discovered how to make huge quantities of insulin-producing cells.

The man who led that breakthrough — 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 — also worked on the new studies.

Read the article “Have Scientists Found a Cure for Type 1 Diabetes?” on dailymail.co.uk.

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