Stem cell breakthrough could help cure type 1 diabetes

Scientists have edged one step closer to a major treatment for (and possibly cure for) type 1 diabetes. A UCSF team has claimed it's the first to turn human stem cells into the mature, insulin-producing cells that type 1 patients don't have. The key was to acknowledge a reality in the development of islets, or clusters of healthy beta cells (which generate insulin) in the pancreas. They separated partly differentiated pancreatic stem cells into islets, jumpstarting their development and leading to responses to blood sugar that more closely represented mature cells. Even alpha and delta cells grew more effectively, UCSF said.