“Latest Stem Cells News”

Stem cells are providing more than just hope against diabetes. The first patients treated with adult stem cells are no longer taking anti-diabetic drugs, while ‘extraordinary results have been obtained in mice with embryonic stem cells,’ said Senator Ignazio Marino yesterday in Rome at the Changing Diabetes Barometer forum.

‘Embryonic stem cells are something that we must keep in mind,’ said Marino referring to the first encouraging results obtained in the United States, where last year, the first data on the possibility of controlling diabetes in mice was published as well as the possibility of using embryonic stem cells to replace insulin producing cells. While this objective is still a long way away in humans, a therapy based on adult stem cells is much closer.

Results published two years ago in a magazine of American medical association, Jama, relative to the first 15 patients treated with adult stem cells, showed that some of the patients were able to stop insulin-based therapy. ‘Results like these,’ concluded Marino, ‘must stimulate further investments in this field.’