Stem cells, that panacea, can also serve to treat diabetes.The researcher Young Zhao, of the Hackensack Center University (United States), has presented in Barcelona the "Stem Cell Educator", the first clinical study to cure diabetes with stem cells of the umbilical cord.
The study is the first one that has been done to investigate a possible treatment for type 1 diabetes. The treatment proposed by Dr. Zhao isa cultivation with stem cells from the umbilical cord.
In this way, Zhao explained that they hope that the stem cells 'reeduquen' the patient's lymphocytes to stop attacking insulin producing cells, and after the crop again to inject the lymphocytes into the patient.
In the US, the Viacyte company is developing the trial of a treatment for type 1 diabetes using stem cells.In October last year, two pancreatic cell capsules grown in laboratory derived from human embryonic stem cells were inserted into a patient.These capsules are designed to protect pancreatic cells cultivated in the laboratory.
Zhao has presented his study during the 13th Congress of the Catalan Diabetes Association.Dr. Fàtima Bosch, of the Animal Biotechnology and Genetic Therapy Center of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, which has presented the latest studies in gene therapy with which it has managed to cure diabetes in dogs, has also participated.
Experts have also explained the latest advances in the treatment of diabetes complications, the latest surgical techniques, the role of new new technologies in treatments and the latest drugs developed to combat diabetes.
Five million people in Spain suffer from diabetes, a disease that causes the death of 25,000 patients every year.The worst of the figures is that 43% of Spaniards with diabetes are without diagnosing.The last 2014 report of the International Diabetes Federation warns that in 2035 there will be a 55% increase in diabetes around the world.This increase is linked to changes in the style of the population and, especially, to the increase in obesity rates.