MIAMI, Fla. – Research is underway into a process that could lead to what some are calling a “cure” for Type 1 diabetes.
Dr. Camillo Ricordi, the chief academic officer of the Diabetes Research Institute of the University of Miami, is part of a multi-center investigation involving islet cell transplantation that could be done without the need for immunosuppressing anti-rejection drugs.
Healthy islet cells allow the pancreas to produce insulin.
”This could be a quantum leap or the holy grail for islet transplantation and diabetes because if you use anti-rejection drugs you have to limit this transplant to the most severe cases where people are at risk of their lives because you wouldn’t put a child or a young adult on antirejection drugs for life because they would develop infection, organ toxicity then cancer,” Ricordi said.
Ricordi said pre-clinical trials were successful so the next step is getting Food and Drug Administration approval for human trials which could begin within the next year.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY MEDS
Research has shown that some anti-inflammatory medications used to treat short-term pain may actually prolong the problem.
According to a recent report, pain resolution is an active biological process and that inflammation is the body’s natural response to injury and infection.
Scientists say blocking that inflammation with drugs could lead to harder-to-treat issues in the long run.
They said the findings should be followed up by clinical trials directly comparing anti-inflammatory drugs to other pain killers that relieve aches and pains but don’t disrupt inflammation.
PANCREATIC CANCER
A new study offers hope for early detection of pancreatic cancer.
Doctors at Boston Medical Center found that gallstones could be an early warning sign. In their study, patients with an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer were six times more like to have had gallstones within the year before diagnosis.
Researchers said this doesn’t mean someone with gallstone disease will get pancreatic cancer but these patients should be closely followed.