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TYPE 1 DIABETES DILEMMA

Stem cells are abound in medical research. Today I read an article on CNN [1] that claims blood stem cell transplantation gets Type-I diabetics off of insulin. I suppose that is good news for the countless young kids who are dealt this death sentence.

Yet, there is something more to this disease. This year, 2009, has found several research papers on the study of viral activity and Type-I diabetes [2], [3], [4], [5]. This makes me question whether or not any transfusion, transplantation, or any other replacement therapy has any merit for Type-I diabetes. No matter what you replace in the patient's body, the virus will continue to infect the new material, and the disease will continue to manifest.

What we really need to see isn't more snake-oil stem cell therapy that is costly and inconsequential, but rather real medical trials using virus-targeting therapies that are localized to the infected pancreas. These kids are doomed to an early death with this disease, and if it can be cured, and not just treated, with anti-viral medications, then why not start aggressive treatment trials?

[1] http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/15/stem.cells.diabetes/index.html
[2] http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/d_0n_120.htm
[3] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11919574
[4] http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118782400/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
[5] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090305141639.htm
[6] http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/55/4/996

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