
Type 2 diabetes usually occurs in adulthood, accounting for more than 90% of diabetes cases, often due to poor diet, lack of exercise and obesity. A new research has now revealed that type 2 diabetes could be effectively cured with a combination of specially-cultured stem cells and conventional diabetes drugs.
Previous studies by UBC scientists had shown that stem cells could reverse Type 1 diabetes in mice. Now, this new research has found that stem cells can cure Type 2 diabetes also.
Scientists at University of British Columbia and BetaLogics, part of Janssen Research and Development, LLC conducted experiments on mice put on a high-fat and calorie diet, by stimulating them with Type 2 diabetes, for several weeks. Then pancreatic-like cells that had been grown from human cells were surgically implanted in the study mice. It was found that mice who had received a combination of the cells with one of three diabetes drugs became glucose tolerant, whereas mice stimulated with Type 2 diabetes, stimulated with drugs and not the transplants remained glucose-intolerant.
The results appear in Stem Cell Reports.
Source: Medindia
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