New proof-of-concept study points a way to curing diabetes without the need for immune-suppressing drugs.

Published by RawNews1st

A 42-year-old man with type 1 diabetes has become the first patient in the world to naturally produce insulin again after receiving gene-edited pancreatic cells.

Using CRISPR-Cas12b technology, scientists reprogrammed donor islet cells to evade immune system attacks that normally destroy transplanted tissue in diabetics.

The case, published this month in the New England Journal of Medicine, marks a potential breakthrough in the treatment of the disease, which affects 9.5 million people worldwide.

This breakthrough eliminates the need for lifelong immunosuppressive drugs, which often carry severe side effects.

The patient received nearly 80 million of these “hypoimmune” cells, which survived and thrived in his body. Four months later, doctors confirmed the cells were producing insulin by detecting C-peptide spikes after meals.

While still in early trials, this marks a potential revolution in diabetes care, showing that the disease could one day be managed without daily insulin injections. If scaled, it could transform the lives of millions living with type 1 diabetes worldwide.

The researchers’ next step is to carry out follow-up studies to find out whether the cells can survive in the long-term, which would make management of the disease easier and potentially provide a cure. They also need to do further tests to determine whether the approach works in other patients.