Four Possible Paths Towards Freedom from Diabetes

Research on type 1 and type 2 diabetes has brought forth many interesting developments over the past several decades. The causes of both conditions are now much more clearly understood and several real advances toward a diabetes cure have been made.

The problem, though, is that the most people who need to know about these advances are not fully aware of the new information. Although diabetes cannot, as yet, be complete cured, there are some recent discoveries that enable one to effectively monitor and manage the disease. This applies for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Also, research on type 1 diabetes has yielded cures that have great potential in stopping the disease from making a turn for the worse.

For type 1 diabetes patients, a pancreatic transplant can free one of the need for insulin injections that he used to routinely have to put up with. In most cases, though, the patient still needs to take immunosuppressive medications.

Another potential cure one can consider is the transplant of stem cells or of exogenous beta cells. The use of stem cells has indicated positive results for type 1 and type 2 diabetes. However, for these treatment methods, one still has to contend with the long term use of immunosuppressive medicines. This is because the immune system has the tendency to attack these transplanted cells.

A third treatment option which holds great possibilities is the use of tiny implants to monitor blood glucose levels. Known as nanotechnology, these implants have the ability to regularly check the patient's glucose levels and inject insulin into the blood stream whenever this is needed. This advancement has the potential to "cure" diabetes without the patient having to undergo surgery or medication. However, there is much that needs to be threshed out with this technology, as much of this advancement still is on the theoretical side.

A more recent finding in the area of type 1 diabetes cures has been made. In trials that have been performed, anti-CD3 antibodies and proinsulin peptides have been used together as therapy. This combination has been to reverse type 1 diabetes in animal tests that were performed and plans are being made to perform human clinical trials using this method. In animal testing trials, this combination has been successful in producing a long lasting reversal of type 1 diabetes of over a year's length.

What makes this last treatment the most promising as a potential diabetes cure is that it teaches the body's immune system to tolerate beta cells in the pancreas rather than attacking them.

Much research still needs to be done in the area of diabetes cures. However, at the rate treatments are currently progressing, it seems likely that a cure for diabetes is not so far down the road.

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