Will There Be a Cure for Diabetes?

Not again…G D, that article was written about Type 2 diabetes, which is related to obesity and is an epidemic. This is the common form of diabetes that the media is always referring to. If an article says "diabetes", you can bet it means Type 2. Type 2 can be controlled and prevented in most cases by following a healthy lifestyle.

Because the media never mentions Type 1 diabetes or diferentiates between the two types, no one knows it exists, and people continue to be ignorant.

I am almost certain the poster's son has autoimmune Type 1 diabetes. This is the rarer severe form of diabetes that is not preventable. It is an autoimmune disease. There are required genetics for it, and an environmental trigger such as a virus. It is NOT linked to diet or weight, and the person does not even make enough insulin to live without eating anything (called basal insulin). They will go into a coma and quickly die without daily insulin, even if they eat NOTHING.

As for the orginal question, beta cell transplants/islet transplants are useless at this point. We have not figured out how to stop the autoimmune attack that destroyed the original islets in the first place, and they will be destroyed again. The transplant is doomed to fail. Also, there is a limited supply of cells, and the drugs currently required are toxic. The average lifespan of a translant recipient is 10 years, and most are back on insulin injections after 1 or 2 years. Insulin resistance is not an issue here, that would apply to Type 2 diabetes, the common form of the disease.

There is much work being done for Type 1 diabetes, with a major shift in the focus of how to cure it. We now know that the autoimmune attack CONTIUNES in Type 1 diabetics, and it appears as though islets can regenerate IF the attack is stopped. This was never though possible. At the very least, stopping the autoimmune attack will allow transplanted islets to survive.

Also, we think the point of entry for Type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune disease triggers appears to be the intestines. People with autoimmune diseases have a "leaky gut", which allows these triggers in. Alba is a company working on a drug to "close" these gaps.

Some researchers you can look up:
Dr. Denise Faustman (www.joinleenow.org)

Dr.Valdez in Mexico (He developed a way to transplant pig islets without using anti-rejection drugs (Sertoli cells were used)).
A Canadian company is looking to replicate this, and is waiting for FDA approval.