Dx Dialogues: cell replacement therapies for type 1 diabetes

Sandra Sobel, MD, walks through how cell replacement therapies aim to offer our patients a functional cure for type 1 diabetes.

Transcript

00:00

Cell-based replacement therapies quite literally take functional beta cells and put them back into an individual

00:08

who's living with type 1 diabetes. [EASY LISTENING MUSIC] The reason why these cell based therapies are so exciting

00:15

is because now we are providing a functional cure of type 1 diabetes by re-infusing individuals with beta cells

00:26

that secrete insulin and take a person's need for exogenous insulin therapy away.

00:32

The present issue right now with these beta cell therapies is that still, global immunosuppression is necessary

00:40

since the immune attack on cells has not been addressed. This has led to looking at encapsulation devices

00:48

where a beta cell is put into a lattice-like or scaffold-like structure, where a beta cell can still receive the nutrients it

00:56

needs to survive, still allows for the insulin that the beta cell produces to go into circulation,

01:03

but is able to be protected from the immune attack that has affected a person's own endogenous beta cells.