Dr. Richard Burt on Using Stem Cell Transplants to Treat Type 1 Diabetes
Preliminary research by Richard Burt, Northwestern University associate professor of hematology/oncology, has revealed that stem cell transplantation using a patients' own cells can eliminate the need for insulin or other drugs in type 1 diabetes. Though it's unknown how long the effects of the protocol will last, 13 of 15 newly-diagnosed diabetics who underwent the procedure have been treatment-free for up to three years. First, stem cells were extracted from the patients' blood and cryopreserved. Then, patients underwent a round of chemotherapy to wipe out their old immune systems. After that, the stem cells were reinfused into the patients' bloodstreams. The effect, Burt says, is a new immune system that is free of disease and produces normal pancreatic islet cells.
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