A man with type 1 diabetes was cured of the condition after a first-of-its-kind procedure, experts have revealed.
The 42-year-old from Sweden was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at just five years old, which caused his body to not produce enough insulin to control blood sugar.
But today he no longer needs daily insulin shots and can finally enjoy sugar without stress, doctors wrote in a medical journal this month.
Last year, the man underwent an islet cell transplant, which involves transplanting islet cells into the liver to help the pancreas produce insulin on its own. Islet cells are cells in the pancreas that produce hormones to help regular blood sugar levels.
This was done with a series of injections in the man’s forearm muscle.
Over the next three months, his body responded to the transplanted cells and started to make its own insulin in response to glucose spikes, which usually happen after meals.
While islet cell transplants have been performed in a handful of patients, the man was the first to have his islet cells genetically engineered so his body wouldn’t reject them.
This helped him avoid having to take immunosuppressant drugs, which weaken the body’s defense system and leave it vulnerable to dangerous infections.
The miracle of stem cell research!