Key Points:
- An older man with severe type 2 diabetes was taken off insulin and two anti-diabetes medications less than a year after receiving stem cell therapy.
- A young woman with type 1 diabetes can “eat sugar now,” just one year after receiving stem cell therapy.
- Many clinical trials are underway to test the effects of stem cell therapy against aging.
Age-related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D), are called so because they are more likely to manifest in older age. T2D is detrimental to a long life, as it increases the chances of developing heart disease up to 5-fold, promoting atherosclerosis — the leading cause of death in the United States. T2D also increases the risk of kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer, which are leading causes of death globally, along with diabetes itself.
Now scientists in Shanghai have successfully reversed T2D in a 59-year-old man. They did so by taking stem cells from his body and transforming them into cells that secrete insulin. Since insulin signals the body to uptake glucose from the bloodstream, the man’s blood sugar levels were normalized. These findings may lead to stem cell therapies that treat other age-related diseases.
Reversing Type 2 Diabetes with Stem Cells
The 59-year-old patient had a 25-year history of T2D and impaired islets — clusters of pancreas cells that secrete multiple hormones, including insulin. His blood glucose was out of range for about 43% of the day. Moreover, because of his severe T2D, the patient developed kidney failure, requiring kidney transplantation. Due to the detrimental effects of his poor blood glucose modulation on the survival of his donated kidneys, the patient agreed to try stem cell transplantation.
The researchers chose stem cells that are less likely to cause cancer called endoderm stem cells. Stem cells were taken from the patient, placed into Petri dishes, transformed into islets, and transplanted into his liver. After only 2 weeks, the patient’s blood glucose levels improved, being out of range for only 22% of the day. After about 2.5 months, he was taken off insulin and, a little after 7 months, his blood glucose was out of range for only 1% of the day. Eventually, he was able to cease the two anti-diabetes medications he was on — the longevity-associated drugs acarbose and metformin.
Reversing Type 1 Diabetes
Unlike T2D, where the body fails to utilize insulin and eventually the islets give out, Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is caused by an immune system attack on the islets. As such, stem-cell derived islet transplantation may be more appropriate for T1D. Accordingly, in a recent study by another group in China, stem-cell derived islet transplantation reversed T1D in a 25-year-old woman. Just one year after the transplant, the woman said, “I can eat sugar now. I enjoy eating everything — especially hotpot.”
Reversing Aging
The long-term effects of the stem cell-derived islet transplantation used by the Chinese researchers to reverse T1D and T2D will reveal whether such a strategy is viable. If the islets of each patient continue to produce adequate levels of insulin for more than five years or so, the therapy would be convincingly practical. Importantly, the transplantation will need to be tested in more people to determine if it is effective for the average diabetic patient.
The success of stem cell-derived cell transplantation may lead the way to therapies in other organs and tissues. By nature, stem cells can transform into any cell type and scientists can now induce this transformation using chemical cocktails. Furthermore, one of the underlying biological drivers of aging is stem cell exhaustion — when stem cells are no longer able to regenerate our tissues and organs. Thus, optimizing stem cell therapies to regenerate tissues lost to aging may hold the key to age reversal.
Stem Cells Therapy Reverses Physical Decline and Skin Aging
Several studies have shown that stem cell transplantation can prolong the lifespan of mice, suggesting this possibility in humans. Moreover, multiple clinical trials are underway for the treatment of frailty — general age-related decline — with stem cells. A completed trial has already shown that stem cell therapy improves walking speed in older adults. There are also multiple clinical trials that will test the effect of stem cell therapy on skin aging. So far, a completed trial has shown that stem cell therapy improves facial volume, wrinkles, and texture.
Furthermore, animal studies suggest that stem cell therapy can treat cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disease, cancer, and other age-related conditions. These studies support the idea that stem cell therapy could reverse human aging (in due time).
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