Christopher Reeve

[junglebunny]

I realize he was not a diabetic, but the man did a lot for stem cell research. He helped to bring it to the forefront of many peoples thoughts.

[Fizz]

Michael J. Fox is doing the same because of his Parkinson's. I was saddened by the death of Christopher Reeves, he became so inspirational, he fought up to the very end.

[Ricardo]

I admire both of those people for their courage during their own illness and their efforts to find treatments.

Hasn't there recently been a breakthrough in stem cell research?

I thought I heard that it may no longer be necessary to acquire them from a fetus.

[admin]

I hear they can get the stem cells from the cord now after a birth. Not sure what they are actually getting done with them though. Atleast we have some hope.

[Ricardo]

Hopefully the research will surge ahead now that the controversial aspect of gathering stem cells is no longer an issue.

[pincushion]

Parkinson's and spinal cord injuries are not autoimmune diseases. There as been no conrcete evidence or speculation that stem cells will cure T1DM - all that can be done at this point (re stem cells) is replace the islet cells....that will again be destroyed by the very autoimmune response that destroyed them in the first place.

Remember - the only benefit stem cells have over transplanted cells is that they are not identified as "foreign" and therefore are not subject to "normal" immune responses - but islet cells are destroyed because they are ABnormally "perceived" as foreign tissue, and the only way, as of now, to STOP that response is to destroy or suppress the immune system. Once you've done that, there's no longer any reason to even utilize stem cells.

People who actually follow the research (as opposed to just reading the headlines) do not feel that stem cells are the answer to T1DM at ALL.

[skatss]

Plenty of people do read the story inside the newspspers.

Some news reports say that the biggest problem now is that there is a shortage of the insulin cells to implant in people. With stem cell research, they would be able to manufacture more of that person's insulin cells to make insulin for their use. The body might still kill them off after a while, but with the ability to create plenty of insulin making cells that are identical to the person's own cells, there will be plenty more cells that can be injected again, so the person with diabetes can get a refill of the cells when they are needed thereby letting the body again control the bloodsugar.

With stem cell research there will be plenty of each diabetic's own insulin cells to inject, over and over as the body kills them off. After each implantation, they will go back to making theor own insulin.

Mind you, this is if the researchers don't find a good way to stop or slow the body from rejecting the cells -- a problem they are working on too.