For the first time in the world Chinese scientists announce the recovery of a diabetic patient using cell therapy

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In a pioneering medical achievement, a team of Chinese scientists and doctors succeeded in treating a patient with diabetes using cells, for the first time in the world.

The patient, a 59-year-old man who had suffered from type 2 diabetes for 25 years, faced severe complications from the disease.

Although he underwent a kidney transplant in 2017, he lost most of the functions of the pancreatic islets (small groups of pancreatic cells that appear as small spots that differ in shape and function from the surrounding pancreatic cells), which control blood glucose levels, and he relied on Multiple insulin injections every day.

“I believe this study represents an important advance in the field of cell therapy for diabetes,” Timothy Kiefer, a professor in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences at the University of British Columbia, told the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Global researchers are studying islet transplantation as a promising alternative treatment, focusing primarily on creating islet-like cells from human stem cell cultures. After more than a decade of effort, the Chinese team has made great progress.

In July 2021, the patient underwent an innovative cell transplantation procedure. After just 11 weeks, he no longer needed exogenous insulin, and within a year, his need to take oral medication to control blood sugar levels had completely disappeared.

This is the first time in the world that a patient with diabetes has been treated using cell therapy.

The team, led by Yin Hao, a senior researcher at Shanghai Changqing Hospital, used the patient's own peripheral blood mononuclear cells and reprogrammed them. They were transformed into “seed cells” and reconstituted pancreatic islet tissue in an artificial setting.

Hao stressed that this achievement is another advance in the field of regenerative medicine, which enhances the body's regenerative abilities to treat diseases.