In type 1 diabetes, the body’s own insulin production stops completely. For some unknown reason, the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the pancreatic cells that produce insulin, which eventually leads to a complete insulin deficiency.
It is no secret that stem cells have a number of unique features, including the ability to give rise to all specialized tissues in the body. Theoretically, stem cells can “repair” any organ of the human body affected by injury or disease and restore its disturbed functions. One of the most promising areas of their application is the treatment of type 1 diabetes.
To date, type 1 diabetes mellitus is recognized as an autoimmune disease. This means that its occurrence is due to a malfunction in the immune system. For an unspecified reason, it begins to attack and destroy the beta cells of the pancreas that produce insulin. The destruction process is irreversible: over time, the number of functioning cells steadily decreases, and insulin synthesis decreases. This is why patients with type 1 diabetes have to constantly receive insulin from the outside and are actually doomed to lifelong treatment.
How can type 1 diabetes be cured?
A patient suffering from type 1 diabetes mellitus receives regular insulin injections for life. They do not affect autoimmune processes, so they only fill the deficiency of natural insulin, but do not eliminate the cause of the disease. In other words, even after taking insulin, the beta cells in the pancreas continue to be destroyed.
It is possible that drugs could stop the inflammatory autoimmune response in patients with type 1 diabetes at the initial stage. In this way, some number of viable beta cells will remain in the body to continue producing insulin. Treatment is far from always effective because by the time most patients are diagnosed, the bulk of the beta cells are no longer functioning.
In recent decades, attempts have been made to cure type 1 diabetes by transplanting beta cells or the entire pancreatic gland. However, there are serious drawbacks to this strategy. First of all, transplantation is an unsafe procedure as well as technically challenging. In addition, obtaining donor material for transplantation presents significant challenges. Patients also have to constantly take immune suppressing drugs to prevent rejection of the transplant.
Does this mean that type 1 diabetes is incurable?
In reality, there is no cure for type 1 diabetes. However, in the last few years, significant discoveries have been made and groundbreaking new treatments for diabetes have been created. One of them is a biological therapy that utilizes mesenchymal stromal cells.
We are talking about so-called mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), which are obtained from bone marrow, adipose tissue, umbilical cord (placental) tissue. MSCs are one of the varieties of stem cells and serve as precursors of many tissues of the human body. In particular, as a result of division and specialization, MSCs can turn into full-fledged beta-cells capable of secreting insulin.
Injection of MSCs actually restores natural insulin production. In addition, MSCs have anti-inflammatory properties because they prevent autoimmune reactions against the pancreas’ own tissues, which prevents the development of type 1 diabetes.
What are mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs)?
Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are a special type of cell that have the ability to divide and differentiate into different types of tissues in the body. These cells can be found in bone marrow, adipose tissue and umbilical cord blood. During the differentiation process, different cell types such as cartilage, bone and adipose tissue cells can develop from MSCs.
Pancreatic beta cells, which are responsible for insulin production, can also be derived from them.
MSC properties:
- Ability to differentiate into different types of tissues (cartilage, bone, fat cells).
- Potential to produce insulin-producing beta cells.
- Anti-inflammatory effect, including the effect on T-lymphocytes.
These properties make MSCs promising for the treatment of various diseases, including type 1 diabetes.
MSC Therapy in Diabetes and When It Is Particularly Effective
Biological therapy with MSCs is an innovative treatment method, so it is too early to draw definitive and unequivocal conclusions about its effectiveness. But we can say with certainty that MSCs inhibit the activity of T-lymphocytes, immune system cells that play an important role in the destruction of pancreatic tissue. Thus, it is recommended to give them to patients at the pre-diabetes stage, i.e. when a part of beta cells is still alive and its synthesis continues even in the absence of insulin.
How Safe Is MSC Therapy in Diabetes?
More than 550 patients with various diseases, including people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, have received MSC therapy and have had no side effects. Overall, more than a decade of experience with therapy and experiments in animal models confirms the safety of MSCs.
Can MSCs cause cancer?
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) do not cause cancer, unlike embryonic stem cells, which can cause cancer. MSCs are derived from adult tissues, such as bone marrow or umbilical cord, and they do not have the property of unlimited division. Therefore, they are not capable of causing cancer. Moreover, studies show that MSCs may even have anti-cancer properties, which makes them safe and promising for medical applications.
Conclusion
In summary, the use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represents a promising and safe approach in the treatment of type 1 diabetes. Although still under development, it is already clear that MSCs can help restore insulin production as well as suppress autoimmune reactions that destroy pancreatic cells. This method may be particularly effective in the early stages of the disease, when some of the beta cells are still functioning. In the future, biological therapy using MSCs may become an important step towards the treatment of type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases.
