This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Recently, my patients have been asking me if there's a new cure for people with type 1 diabetes. This has been in the news and it was a front-page story in The New York Times. So, Is it true? In a word, no. But we are part of the way there, which is much closer than we were 6 months ago.
The way I think about it, to cure type 1 diabetes, we need two things: We need a ready supply of islet cells so that we can give people without islet cells new islet cells that can make insulin. We need immune tolerance to these islet cells so we don't need to give people immunosuppression.
Recently, two companies, ViaCyte and Vertex, have been able to show that stem cell–derived cells can become functional beta cells when infused into humans. Although it requires immunosuppression for these cells to work, it still solved part of the problem. It's showing us that we can have a supply of stem cells that will turn into islet cells that can help cure type 1 diabetes.
For full disclosure, I have worked as an unpaid consultant to ViaCyte and I have received honoraria for consulting for Vertex.
Pediatric Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus
COMMENTARY
A Cure for Type 1 Diabetes? Not Yet, but We're Getting Closer
Anne L. Peters, MD
DisclosuresDecember 30, 2021
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Recently, my patients have been asking me if there's a new cure for people with type 1 diabetes. This has been in the news and it was a front-page story in The New York Times. So, Is it true? In a word, no. But we are part of the way there, which is much closer than we were 6 months ago.
The way I think about it, to cure type 1 diabetes, we need two things: We need a ready supply of islet cells so that we can give people without islet cells new islet cells that can make insulin. We need immune tolerance to these islet cells so we don't need to give people immunosuppression.
Recently, two companies, ViaCyte and Vertex, have been able to show that stem cell–derived cells can become functional beta cells when infused into humans. Although it requires immunosuppression for these cells to work, it still solved part of the problem. It's showing us that we can have a supply of stem cells that will turn into islet cells that can help cure type 1 diabetes.
For full disclosure, I have worked as an unpaid consultant to ViaCyte and I have received honoraria for consulting for Vertex.
Medscape Diabetes © 2021 WebMD, LLC
Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Anne L. Peters. A Cure for Type 1 Diabetes? Not Yet, but We're Getting Closer - Medscape - Dec 30, 2021.
Tables
Authors and Disclosures
Authors and Disclosures
Author(s)
Anne L. Peters, MD
Professor, Department of Clinical Medicine, Keck School of Medicine; Director, University of Southern California WEstside Center for Diabetes, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Disclosure: Anne L. Peters, MD, has disclosed the following relevant financial relationships:
Serve(d) on the advisory board for: Abbott Diabetes Care; Becton Dickinson; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Eli Lilly and Company; Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Livongo; Medscape; Merck & Co., Inc.; Novo Nordisk; Omada Health; OptumHealth; sanofi; Zafgen
Received research support from: Dexcom; MannKind Corporation; Astra Zeneca
Received honoraria from: Vertex Serve(d) as a member of a speakers bureau for: Novo Nordisk