In a major medical breakthrough, Chinese scientists have cured a patient’s diabetes with innovative cell therapy.
This revolutionary therapy, highlighted in the journal Cell Discovery on April 30, emerged from a joint effort between Shanghai Changzheng Hospital, the Centre for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Renji Hospital.
According to a report from the South China Morning Post, the patient received the cell transplant in July 2021, and remarkably, within eleven weeks, he was no longer dependent on external insulin.
Over the following year, he progressively reduced and ultimately stopped taking oral medication for blood sugar control. One of the lead researchers said that “follow-up examinations showed that the patient’s pancreatic islet function was effectively restored.”
Timothy Kieffer, a professor at the University of British Columbia, has commended the research, which has seen the patient insulin-free for 33 months.
Kieffer said that he thinks “this study represents an important advance in the field of cell therapy for diabetes.”