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Is one to 35 months "remission" a cure as Brownback claims? Wouldn't it be important to know the cause of diabetes? Apparently this didn't work for one person: Stem cells 'reset' to fight diabetes By Anita Manning, USA TODAY For the first time, a study reports that a small group of patients with type 1, or juvenile, diabetes were able to quit daily insulin treatments after being transplanted with stem cells from their own bodies. The study, by scientists in Brazil, involved 15 patients, ages 14-31, with newly diagnosed diabetes. After the transplants, 14 patients were able to live without insulin injections from one to 35 months. Type 1 diabetes is caused by the destruction of insulin-producing cells by the patient's own immune system, but in the first weeks after diagnosis, some of these cells are still functioning, the authors say. The findings were reported in today's Journal of the American Medical Association. The scientists took stem cells from patients' blood, gave them immune-suppressing drugs and returned the stem cells to their bodies to rebuild their immune systems. The results suggest that "the immune system of people with type 1 diabetes can be retrained or reset, at least for a period of time," and that it may be possible to regrow insulin-producing cells, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation said in a statement. Endocrinologist Larry Deeb of Tallahassee, Fla., president of the American Diabetes Association, says the report is promising but "enthusiasm has to be tempered" because the study is small and the therapy, if proved in larger studies, would be useful only for those newly diagnosed. In an accompanying editorial, Jay Skyler of the Diabetes Research Institute at the University of Miami calls the study "provocative." He predicts the study will be followed by other efforts to use stem cells to treat type 1 diabetes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn