types of diabetes

IN BRIEF     New research involving pancreatic islet cell implants show promise in treating Type 1 Diabetes,. This new treatment might just spell the end for T1D. With Promising Potential No matter how modern the world has become, there are certain ailments that continue to persist. One of these is diabetes, diabetes has two variants — an insulin-dependent one, known as type 1 diabetes (T1D), and type 2 diabetes that’s non-insulin-dependent. . The cause of this particular diabetes variant still remains unknown, and treatments generally involve pumping insulin daily into the patient’s body. As such, there’s still no known cure for T1D. However, researchers from the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine in Florida may have just made it possible to develop one. In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers described how clinical trials involving pancreatic islet cell implants to the omentum — the tissue covering organs in the abdomen — shows promise in treating T1D. “Islet transplantation can restore euglycemia and eliminate severe hypoglycemia in patients with [T1D],” the researchers wrote. “The omentum has a dense vascularized surface for islet implantation, drains into the portal system, and is easily accessible.” Insulin Independence Pancreatic islets are endocrine cell clusters found throughout the organ, which is normally involved with insulin and glucagon production in healthy individuals. The researchers found that using donor islets combined with a T1D patient’s own blood plasma makes for effective islet implants into the omentum. This works better than previous attempts to implant islets in the liver, which could cause inflammation. The omentum then becomes sort of a mini-pancreas that could produce insulin for T1D patients. “The results thus far have shown that the omentum appears to be a viable site for islet implantation using this new platform technique

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