Dr. Han Hoon is the only one currently treating diabetes in humans with adult stem cells. I have a separate section for him.

It would appear though that treatments using adult stem cells taken from the blood or marrow, or perhaps the pancrease itself, are just around the corner.

The one closest to Phase I trial status may be PharmaFrontiers, a hot biotech company. They have a patented process for deriving stem cells from the patient's own blood, a bit like what Theravitae is doing in Israel.

PharmaFrontiers is already moving into phase II trials in the US for treating MS. They are currently carefully studying adult stem cell therapies for type I diabetes and heart disease and I would expect them to file for Phase I trials for both of those anytime. Now. I will keep my eyes peeled.

PharmaFrontiers, traded OTC, is working on stem cells derived from the patient's own blood. They are looking at Diabetes and Heart disease. They are already in Phase I/II trials for MS. This article was from January 2005. For Diabetes they are looking at human peripheral moncyte-derived stem cells (MDSC's).

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=18601

PharmaFrontiers website discussion of their work on Diabetes.

http://www.pharmafrontiers.net/diabetes.php

8/5/5. News article about Pitt Univ. finding about epithelial stem cells contained in the placenta. The cells appear to be extremely plastic. They are looking at them for liver disease and also for Type I diabetes.

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/05217/549236.stm

2004 academic journal article showing marrow derived stem cells can be differentiated into pancreatic beta like cells which successfully treat diabetes in Mice.

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/dynapage.taf?file=/labinvest/journal/v84/n5/abs/3700074a.html

2003 discussion of Canadian study that showed marrow derived adult stem cells placed in mice reverse type I diabetes – unclear whether the marrow cells themselves differentiate or if they send messages to the body to regenerate itself. Discusses another study where there was success, and the possibility that the findings of that study were incorrect – ie that the marrow cells did not differentiate but rather sent message for body to heal itself.

http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?page_id=100401

2004 article that discusses possible discovery of adult stem cells in the pancrease of Mice. Nature.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3584090.stm

Destroy the human immune system attack on beta cells. Then allow the body to simply regrow them. Harvard 2001.

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2001/08.16/01-stemcells.html

Outdated but still useful if you recognize that. NIH site on stem cells and diabetes.

http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/scireport/chapter7.asp

Article from the International Society for Stem Cell Research. Cites research that shows that normal new cell generation in the pancrease (of the important beta cells) is accomplished by the beta cells themselves (ie they regenerate themselves). Thus, the research indicates that it is unlikely that any population of adult stem cells in the pancrease would be of help in regenerating the beta cells. The article then incorrectly goes on to assert that this means adult stem cells are unlikely to be a source for a cure of type I diabetes.

The original research cited in this articl from ISSCR is May, 2004 article in Nature, by Professor Douglas Melton.

http://www.isscr.org/public/diabetes.htm

2003 BBC article outlining results of study by Dr. Jonathan Slack of Bath University. Converted adult liver cells into insulin producing pancreatic-like cells.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2677243.stm

Journal articles from Jonathan Slack.


Horb, M.E., Shen, C.N., Tosh, D. and Slack, J.M.W. (2003). Experimental conversion of liver to pancreas. Current Biology 13, 105-115.

Beck, C. W. Christen B. and Slack J. M. W. (2003). Molecular pathways needed for regeneration of spinal cord and muscle in a vertebrate. Developmental Cell, 5, 429-439.

Gargioli C.and Slack J.M.W. (2004). Cell lineage tracing during Xenopus tail regeneration. Development 131, 2669-2679

Slack, J.M.W. Beck, C.W. Christen, B. Gargioli C. (2004). Cellular and molecular mechanisms of regeneration in Xenopus. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. 359, 745-751

Re-establishing the regenerative potential of central nervous system axons in postnatal mice.
Cho KS, Yang L, ..., Pekny M, Chen DF
J Cell Sci 2005 Mar 1 118(Pt 5):863-72

Diabetes Researchers at Harvard Medical School used animal adult stem cells to grow new islet cells to combat diabetes. Researcher Denise Faustman recalled, "It was astonishing! We had reversed the disease without the need for transplants." Plans for human trials are underway.4



4"Adult stem cells effect a cure, " Harvard University Gazette, July 19, 2001.

Pharmafrontiers has initiated pre-clinical work on type I diabetes. Ie, they are now testing the treatment but not in humans yet.

For heart disease they are still at the R&D stage (they are not testing on animals yet).

Pharmafrontiers is moving forward to phase IIb on its Tovaxin vaccine for certain forms of MS.

EWrote:
Diabetes Researchers at Harvard Medical School used animal adult stem cells to grow new islet cells to combat diabetes. Researcher Denise Faustman recalled, "It was astonishing! We had reversed the disease without the need for transplants." Plans for human trials are underway.4







4"Adult stem cells effect a cure, " Harvard University Gazette, July 19, 2001.

In Type I diabetes, the problem with growing an individuals own stem cells into islet cells is that the original cause of the diabetes is autoimmune destruction of the islet beta cells. So without immunological modification of the stem cells they would likely be susceptible to this same destruction.

mattWrote:

[t]EWrote:
Diabetes Researchers at Harvard Medical School used animal adult stem cells to grow new islet cells to combat diabetes. Researcher Denise Faustman recalled, "It was astonishing! We had reversed the disease without the need for transplants." Plans for human trials are underway.4







4"Adult stem cells effect a cure, " Harvard University Gazette, July 19, 2001.

[/t]


In Type I diabetes, the problem with growing an individuals own stem cells into islet cells is that the original cause of the diabetes is autoimmune destruction of the islet beta cells. So without immunological modification of the stem cells they would likely be susceptible to this same destruction.

Yep. Ultimately you would probably have to combine application of regenerative stem cells or growth factors to pancrease, with an approach like what they did in the Harvard study, where they used some type of chemotherapy agent to destroy the immune system attack on the pancrease.

I'm uncertain as to why the Harvard approach has not advanced to phase II given how long ago that study was completed and how positive the results were.