Life without insulin, but with transformed embryonic stem cells administered here by an experimental treatment, is possible. As Science and Future already mentioned it in 2021 (read Science and Future No. 892, dated June 2021), Using stem cells to make insulin works.
Already in 2023, first unpublished results were circulating, concerning an American patient with type 1 diabetes, this autoimmune disease resulting in the destruction of insulin-producing cells. This man was thus able to do without daily injections of the precious hormone aimed at regulating sugar levels.
12 patients followed for one year
This year, confirmation came with a publication in the journal New England Journal of Medicine. This is a trial conducted by the company Vertex Pharmaceuticals called phase 1-2, carried out on a small group of patients (12 patients including one French person), all having been followed for one year. Everything is based on a still experimental drug, zimislecel, made from embryonic stem cells differentiated in a second stage into pancreatic cells.
According to the results, their administration by intravenous injection " allowed 83% of the treated patients to no longer require insulin treatment one year after the injection". The company talks about stem cells. allogeneic », embryonic stem cells being taken from embryos " supernumeraries » from in vitro fertilization. In short, these cells are cultured, multiply before being selected and programmed to generate new islets of Langerhans.
It should be noted that we already knew how to use them and how to graft them intravenously, but until now they were only obtained from deceased donors. The Vertex technique therefore makes it possible to avoid this very cumbersome step of collecting blood from donors, greatly simplifying logistics and patient care.
A phase 3 trial in the United States and Europe
The question of anti-suppressive treatment, which is always required for life following these manipulations, remains to be resolved, the objective being to one day succeed in making the immune system of the patient tolerant to the transplanted stem cells.
This work, recently presented at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) congress in Chicago, will now continue with a phase 3 trial, on a larger number of patients in the United States and Europe.
Note that there are other alternatives, just as experimental and with other types of stem cells, which have allowed a first Chinese patient to produce insulin from one's own cells. In any case, there is hope of freeing oneself from sometimes multiple daily injections.
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