Diabetics Cured By Stem-cell Treatment

[leo28]

Diabetics using stem-cell therapy have been able to stop taking insulin injections for the first time, after their bodies started to produce the hormone naturally again.

In a breakthrough trial, 15 young patients with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes were given drugs to suppress their immune systems followed by transfusions of stem cells drawn from their own blood.

The results show that insulin-dependent diabetics can be freed from reliance on needles by an injection of their own stem cells. The therapy could signal a revolution.

Stem cells are immature, unprogrammed cells that have the ability to grow into different kinds of tissue and can be sourced from people of all ages.

Type 2 diabetes, which tends to affect people later in life, is linked to lifestyle factors such as obesity. There are almost two million type 2 diabetics in Briton, most of whom control their blood-sugar levels with pills or through diet.

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body’s own immune system malfunctions and destroys the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas, causing a shortage in the hormone.

By the time most patients receive a clinical diagnosis, 60 to 80 per cent of their beta cells have been wiped out. The disease progresses from this point very quickly, and can result in serious long-term complications including blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and stroke.



From The Times

April 11, 2007


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_...icle1637528.ece

[PoetKnight]

Here's the working link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article1637528.ece


Unfortunately, the media's infatuation over embryonic stem cells takes away from research funding going into using adult and umbilical cord stem cells, which could have the potential to cure as well, given enough time, money, and trials.


"...They asked: 'Messenger of Allah, should we seek medical treatment?' He said: 'Yes. Servants of Allah. Seek medical treatment because Allah has not created an illness without creating a cure for it, with the exception of one illness.' They asked which illness was that. The Prophet answered: 'Old age.'..."

(Related by Abu Dawood, At-Tirmizi, Ibn Majah,
Al-Bukhari in Al-Addab Al Mufrad, Ahmed and others)

[mani]

This was very interesting to myself as i have a daughter who has the medical condition beta thalassemia - basically she cant produce any blood at all of her own and has to be transfused blood for the rest of her life.

the one possible cure for this is a bone marrow transplant and since this is so hard to match the other possibility is stem cell research which could become this hence is of great potential

of course it has a HUGE moral dilemma attatched to it for the source of the stem cells etc...

[oOo Lamia oOo]

"...They asked: 'Messenger of Allah, should we seek medical treatment?' He said: 'Yes. Servants of Allah. Seek medical treatment because Allah has not created an illness without creating a cure for it, with the exception of one illness.' They asked which illness was that. The Prophet answered: 'Old age.'..."

(Related by Abu Dawood, At-Tirmizi, Ibn Majah,
Al-Bukhari in Al-Addab Al Mufrad, Ahmed and others)

I'm sure that this doesn't regard stem-cell treatment.

What are the islamic beleifs on this?

[umm_madina]

I'm sure that this doesn't regard stem-cell treatment.

What are the islamic beleifs on this?


Assalamualikum,

You may find the following article of some relevance:



By: Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi
IslamiCity* -

Let us first understand what is this research and what are the issues involved in it. Following is a brief explanation written by Dr. Imran Siddiqi, a Ph.D. in Genetics. He says:

"The human body consists of many kinds of cells. These cells are very diverse in their structure and function. For example, neurons that make up the brain are very different from cells that make up our liver, cells that allow our heart to pump blood look nothing like the cells that make up our skin. In spite of their vast differences, however, all cells in the human body contain the same DNA. DNA provides the information, in the form of genes, which is necessary to make all these various cell types. Put simply, liver cells are liver cells because only a small set of genes are turned on in these cells while the rest are shut off. In the same way, cells in the brain or skin have their own set of genes activated, and other sets turned off. However, because all cells contain the entire set of DNA, they possess the information needed to make any kind of cell, though most of this information is not being used."

"How do cells become specialized to form the different organs in the body? Human development begins when a sperm cell fuses with an egg cell. This initial fertilized egg, although it is only a single cell, is able to form an entire human being. This cell starts to divide into additional cells, which at this early stage are all able to produce a complete organism. These cells are therefore called totipotent, meaning they have total potential to produce all cell types present in a living human. As development proceeds and an embryo forms, these cells become pluripotent, meaning they have potential to become many different kinds of cells but can no longer give rise to a complete embryo. Later in development, through a process called cell differentiation, these pluripotent cells eventually give rise to the different and more specialized kinds of cells in the body and the different organs begin to form."

"What are stem cells? Stem cells are cells that have not gone through the process of cell differentiation and therefore have the potential to give rise to many different kinds of specialized cells. For instance a stem cell could be used to produce liver cells, brain cells, heart muscle cells, blood cells, etc. The current sources of stem cells include embryos (which, as explained above, consist of pluripotent cells) and fetal tissue. In addition, some recent evidence suggests that even adults have a small number of mulitpotent cells that can be isolated and can later differentiate into various cell types."

"One source of stem cells is from embryos that were formed from a process called in vitro fertilization. This is a technique that has been used by doctors for some time, where eggs are removed from a woman after stimulation of the ovaries, and the isolated eggs are then fertilized by sperm cells in the laboratory. The fertilized eggs are allowed to divide for a few cycles and are then implanted into the woman's uterus, where a normal pregnancy can then take place. The purpose of this technique is to allow couples who cannot normally have children to be able to reproduce. The technique is not that efficient, however, and so doctors usually produce several embryos, hoping that at least one will be able to implant correctly in the uterus and start growing. The remaining embryos are either frozen for later use or are destroyed. Recently, scientists found that they can take these embryos at the stage before they are implanted into the uterus (within 1-5 days after fertilization), and remove pluripotent cells from them. These cells can then be grown and divided on dishes in the laboratory, and then theoretically used to produce all kinds of tissues, from liver cells to heart muscle cells to brain cells."


Click the link for more information:
http://www.islamicity.com/articles/Articles.asp?ref=IC0202-404


wa'salam