NEWS: CBC: Diabetics celebrate insulin-free lifestyle

[janet paterson <janet313@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Diabetics celebrate insulin-free lifestyle

WebPosted Wed Jun 7 06:27:06 2000 - EDMONTON - Eight diabetics celebrated the 
disappearance of their disease Tuesday with the University of Alberta where the 
treatment for severe diabetes was created.

A year ago, the eight diabetics were injected with cells from human pancreases. 
It was a life-changing experience. Now, they no longer have to inject 
themselves with insulin or worry about their blood sugar.

Dr. John Shapiro, one of the research leaders summed up the test: "It works for 
everybody. It has a 100 per cent success rate."

The procedure, called the Edmonton Protocol, isn't a cure. But for Ron Forbes 
of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, the elusive cure now seems within reach.

"We're not there yet. This is just a start, but we feel very comfortable that a 
cure is much closer than ever before," he says.

Shapiro, along with Dr. Ray Rajotte and Dr. Jonathan Lakey, led the research 
team from the U of A. Their results were initially presented in Chicago at a 
meeting of transplant surgeons last month.

The research team succeeded in taking the patients ? all of them severe 
diabetics ? off their daily insulin injection. Now the hope is that millions of 
other chronic diabetics worldwide won't need shots anymore.

Diabetes leaves the body unable to produce its own insulin, a hormone that 
regulates sugar in the blood. Chronic (Type 1) diabetics must inject themselves 
daily with insulin.

Researchers successfully transplanted human pancreatic cells, which produce 
insulin, into patients from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Yellowknife. All of them 
needed up to 15 self-injected insulin shots a day before the study.

The patients have to take a drug cocktail so their bodies don't reject the new 
cells. For now, it's unclear what the long-term side effects are.

Diabetics won't be able to access the treatment immediately because there's a 
shortage of donated organs that supply the cells for the procedure.

Doctors in Europe and across North America will now take part in a large-scale 
trial.

Almost 200,000 Canadians have insulin-dependent diabetes, a condition that's 
one of the leading causes of death. People with diabetes have an increased risk 
of developing heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and blindness.

In 1995, an estimated 135 million people around the world had diabetes. The 
World Health Organization estimates that number will reach 300 million by 2025.


Copyright 2000 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved


janet paterson
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