Following the post on the announcement by Prof. Colin McGuckin that umbilical cord blood stem cells are able to transform into insulin secreting cells, I received a question about whether this work could be applied to Type 1 diabetes and whether it is ready for clinical application.
Essentially, in Type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce any insulin and it is work like this that paves the way for tissue creation with the aim of replacing the functions of specific missing or non-functioning organs. So it is conceivable that this work could lead to a cure for Type 1 diabetes.
The challenge that scientists and doctors face is time. Everyday, the full breadth of current biochemical and physical chemistry is churned to understand how cells work and how they can be harnessed to save lives. Whether this challenge is completed in our lifetime depends on factors like funding priority (more money- more equipment- more brains!), technological advancement (now we have fluorescent microscopes and thermocyclers) and political backing to move a research concept into a trial.
I wrote to Prof. Colin with the question that I was asked and wasn't sure if he would reply me (but he did!) and a few of the points raised here were touched on by Prof. Colin's reply below:
Thank you, for your email.
We are indeed excited to be developing cord blood stem cells for regenerative medicine.
We have been able to develop some new strategies for producing tissues such as liver, nervous tissue and pancreatic tissue.
However, I am always completely honest and would say that our work is still at the research and development stage.
We are working as fast as we can to develop human protocols and all our work is done with human cord blood stem cells, but we are not yet in a position to put the cells into people yet for diabetes. Cord Blood is going into people in our centre for other disorders etc, but not yet for diabetics.
It has been very difficult over the years to get funding for this work and we work on a "shoestring budget" and this does slow us down, but I hope that we will be in a position either ourselves, or jointly with our collaborators to help patients with diabetes in the future.
With my very best wishes
Colin
Colin P.McGuckin
Professor of Regenerative Medicine
UK Centre for Cord Blood.
Haematological Sciences and the International Centre for Life
Medical School
Framlington Place
University of Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH
United Kingdom
Thank you for your kind reply Prof. I really appreciate that you took the time and effort to write back to me. I hope that you'll continue to get funded, succeed and proceed to human protocols soon. :)
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