If researchers squelch an immune system attack that is causing the disease, severely diabetic mice can recover on their own — three groups of scientists report today. This discovery was first published in 2001 raising the hopes of people with Type 1 diabetes. This diabetes occurs usually in puberty afflicting an estimated half-million to a million Americans.
And if the findings applied to humans, they might mean reversing a disease that had seemed incurable! The findings also gave rise to Questions about using embryonic stem cells as replacement cells for diabetics is also kicked up by the findings. And this method is the focus of intense interest.
If it is possible, in mice, for the pancreas to cure itself, and if the same finding holds true in humans - which, so far, is entirely unknown - adding embryonic stem cells as the source of new pancreas cells might provide little added benefit, if any.
Via: New York Times
