I think, last year in Argentina there was successful stem cell treatment
of Type 1 diabetic!
JS


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070410/...g_type1_dia_dc

Stem cell transplant promising for type 1 diabetes

1 hour, 45 minutes ago

In a small study, a treatment that included stem cell transplantation
induced prolonged insulin independence in patients with newly diagnosed
type 1, or insulin-dependent, diabetes.

In a statement, lead author Dr. Julio C. Voltarelli, from the Regional
Blood Center in Ribeiro Preto, Brazil, called the results "very
encouraging."

While the same approach has been used in other autoimmune disorders, the
current study, to the author's knowledge, represents the first time the
approach has been used in human type 1 diabetes.

In type 1 diabetes, a person's immune system attacks and destroys
insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Preserving beta cells is a
key concept in the management of type 1 diabetes and in the prevention
of its related complications.

Voltarelli's team tested the ability of high-dose immune suppression and
stem cell transplantation to preserve beta cell function in 15 patients
who were diagnosed with type I diabetes in the previous 6 weeks. All of
them required insulin.

Stem cell transplantation involves the harvesting and treatment of a
patient's own stem cells and then returning them to the patient via
intravenous injection.

During follow up, 14 patients became insulin-free -- 1 for 35 months, 4
for at least 12 months, and 7 patients for at least 6 months. Two "late
responders" were insulin-free for 1 and 5 months, respectively.

The therapy was well tolerated; the only severe side effects were
pneumonia in one patient and endocrine dysfunction in two others.

While further study is needed, Dr. Jay S. Skyler, from the University of
Miami, comments in a related editorial, "the time may indeed be coming
for starting to reverse and prevent type I diabetes."

SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, April 11, 2007.