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Asked by lizziebee to Sharon on 15 Mar 2011 in Categories: Stem Cells.
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Sharon Sneddon answered on 15 Mar 2011:
Hi Lizzie,
you are right, its the pancreas that does not produce insulin that causes people to have diabetes. What we want to use stem cells for is to grow the stem cells in a certain way to get them to turn into insulin producing pancreas cells. once they start to do this, they can be transplanted (kind of like a blood transfusion) into people with diabetes and hopefully the cells will continue to produce insulin. A few trials of this have already happened and they look promising with the patients not needing insulin injections even after a year. Hopefully more trials will take place and this will be a great therapy for people.
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Comments
lizziebee commented on :
oh! i hope these experiments go well! i know that diabetes can heavily effect people lives!
Sharon commented on :
Yeah, I agree, I don’t think I would like to have to inject myself daily like some diabetic people have to!