Will we see a cure or new treatment for type 1 soon?

[Administrator]

Will we see a cure or new method of treatment in your opinion for type 1 for everybody in the not to distant future?

Asked by Graham on Facebook during the 7pm-8pm live chat with Dr Hilary Jones. Got a question? Ask it here.

 

[Dr. Hilary Jones]

The Harvard stem cell breakthrough is a fantastic breakthrough for type 1 diabetes. The only slight drawback it that it does not provide a cure as the body's immune system would still kill the beta cells secreting insulin.

The good thing is that it makes some forms of new type 1 diabetes treatments possible, such as encapsulation. Encapsulation is the implant of islet cells which have a protective layer that stops the islet cells getting attacked by the body.

The JDRF are hard at work researching this concept. If the progression of the Harvard breakthrough leads to islet cells being produced in the lab and encapsulated, people with type 1 diabetes could have an implant and not need to take insulin and perhaps not even need to test their blood. How long it could take, we have no idea - but the future is certainly looking promising.