Biotechnologie et biomatériaux

Abstrait

Unspoken risks and uncomfortable questions of stem cells in diabetes

EwaKozłowska

According to the World Health Organization’s statistics published in 2018, The number of people with diabetes has increased from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014 and still growing. Only in Poland the number of deaths attributable to high blood glucose in 2016 was estimated at 25 800. According to the internationally recognized definitions: Diabetes is a chronic condition that occurs when the pancreas can no longer make insulin, or when the body is unable to make effective use of the insulin it produces”. “Insulin is a pancreatic hormone that acts as a key to allowing glucose from the food we eat to pass from the blood stream into the body's cells to generate energy. All products made with carbohydrates are broken down into blood glucose. Insulin helps glucose get into the cells”. Not being able to produce or use insulin efficiently results in elevated blood glucose levels (known as hyper-glycemia). In the long term high levels of glucose are associated with body damage and degradation in specific organs and tissues. Over the years, several different therapeutic strategies have been investigated but none of them have proved to be completely successful. Scientists and doctors have found a way to save and extend the lives of patients, and continue to seek a way to achieve complete healing. Stem cells tend to be a new step in their journey toward development. or delayed, but still, a reliable method of complete recovery remains undiscovered. Cell-based therapies for beta-cell replacement are now under intensified investigation. Researchers have been advancing methods to generate insulin-producing beta cells from pluripotent stem cells (PSC) for the clinical treatment of diabetes. Although American researchers say, that once taken stem cells can be multiplied indefinitely; the use of stem cells from human embryos still raises ethical resistance. Apart from the steam cell ethical factors, physicians and scientists have more moral dilemma connected with the selection of patients for the treatment and possible risks. Mostly mentioned risks are tumors, the growth of the stem cells into unwanted cell types and taking immunosuppressive drugs that suppress the activity of the immune system. It is also difficult to regulate how much insulin the new beta cells produce. Other than that, the scientists tend to present the matter in bright colors. It may be difficult to predict the physical and psychological reaction of patients against a sudden "miracle cure". Stem cell treatment may become harmful to the good habits worked over the years. To some patients it may cause some kind of “breaking the leash” syndrome, especially those of type 2 diabetics, for who the cause of the disease was poor eating habits.