Pig cell transplantation helped diabetics
In the Research Institute of Ambulance named after. Sklifosovsky, with the participation of the Institute of Biomedical Problems, conducted a clinical study of the drug Diabecell of the New Zealand company Living Cell Technologies, which is pancreatic cells of newborn piglets.
As is known, with type I diabetes, beta cells of the pancreatic islets are destroyed. To date, several attempts have been made to eliminate the immediate cause of this disease by transplanting pancreatic cells. The essence of the study conducted in Moscow, in which four patients participated, is the transplantation of insulin-producing cells obtained from newborn piglets.
Within six months after transplantation, scientists monitored the condition of patients and published the results. One of the patients was able to completely abandon the additional administration of insulin for a while. However, after five months, when the need for it arose again, the dosage was reduced by five times compared to the original. Another patient managed to achieve a 40% reduction in the dose of insulin. Another patient did not have positive results. The last patient underwent transplantation recently, and therefore there is no data on the effectiveness of treatment yet.
The peculiarity of the Diabecell preparation is that the cells included in its composition are surrounded by a semi-permeable membrane made of seaweed. The islet cells covered with this shell retain the ability to produce insulin and secrete it into the bloodstream, but at the same time they are protected from damage by the human immune system. Due to these qualities of the drug, it is possible to reduce the risk of a graft rejection reaction, and, therefore, there is no need for immunosuppressive therapy, which, as a rule, is carried out for a long time and has many side effects.
Attempts to transplant organs and tissues from other biological species to humans (xenotransplantation) cause an ambiguous reaction from specialists. In their opinion, the material transplanted from an animal may contain hidden, but dangerous infections for humans. However, the authors of this study claim that the new cell product has been fully tested for the presence of infectious agents and none of the patients have been found to have diseases that could be transmitted at the time of transplantation.
Source: Pig cell transplants help people with diabetes – New Scientist, 12.04.2008
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Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru16.04.2008