Diabetes

Type I (juvenile) diabetes is an autoimmune disease characterized by a loss of insulin producing cells and subsequent inability to control blood glucose levels. There are millions of people worldwide who suffer the debilitating effects of this disease. NSCI has focused on umbilical cord blood (UCB) stem cells to find a cure for this disease.     

This idea is not without precedent in the published literature. In one study, it was demonstrated that cultured human UCB cells express many markers characteristic of the developing pancreas and insulin producing β-cells [1]. Several studies have suggested that transplantation of UCB cells into mouse models of diabetes is beneficial. Administration of large numbers of human UCB mononuclear cells improved blood glucose levels, survival and the destructive inflammatory process that occurs in the pancreas of a mouse model of type 1 diabetes [2]. These studies suggest that there are at least two mechanisms by which UCB may be clinically beneficial for treating type 1 diabetes. If UCB cells develop into insulin producing cells, they could be used as a surrogate for cadaveric islets, which have been used in a transplantation protocol developed in Edmonton to cure patients with type 1 diabetes. If UCB cells abrogate the autoimmune process that is responsible for the destruction of insulin producing β-cells, it is easy to envision therapy targeted at the early stages of diabetes development. Additionally, pancreatic regeneration is a well established phenomenon in animal models of diabetes and if it proves to be true, as some reports suggest, that humans can likewise regenerate pancreatic tissue, then UCB cells could be therapeutic even years after type 1 diabetes onset. UCB cell based therapy may not be limited to type 1 diabetes. In a study, human UCB mononuclear cells were infused into mice with type 2 diabetes [3]. Improvements in blood glucose levels and survival were noted. Also improved were kidney changes that commonly occur in poorly controlled diabetes.