HOME  INTERVIEWS  RESOURCES  NEWS  ABOUT

View by:  Subject  Theme  Question  Term  Person  Event

Type 1 Diabetes in Children

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease characterized by destruction of insulin producing cells in the pancreas. Current efforts to treat these patients with human islet transplantation in an effort to restore insulin secretory function (obtained from human pancreas) are limited severely by the small numbers of donated pancreas available each year combined with the toxicity of immunosuppressive drug treatments required to prevent graft rejection.These limitations are described in the summary of a beta cell replacement workshop: http://www.jdfcure.com/JDFINASAisletconfsummary.htm.Pluripotent stem cells, instructed to differentiate into a particular pancreatic cell called a beta cell, could overcome the shortage of therapeutically effective material to transplant. They also afford the opportunity to engineer such cells to effectively resist immune attack as well as graft rejection.

Email link | Printer-friendly | Feedback | Contributed by: AAAS DoSER and the Institute for Civil Society

Go to Genetics Topic Index
Stem Cell Research and Applications: Monitoring the Frontiers of Biomedical Research
Preface
Findings and Recommendations
The Science of Stem Cell Research and Potential Therapies
     Current Status of Human Stem Cell Research
     Sources and Characteristics of Human Stem Cells
        Human Embryonic Stem Cells
        Human Embryonic Germ Cells.
        Human Adult Stem Cells
     The Clinical Potentials for Stem Cell Products
     Some Examples of Treatments for Major Diseases
        Type 1 Diabetes in Children
        Nervous System Diseases
        Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases
        Diseases of Bone and Cartilage
        Cancer
     Uses in Research
        A New Window on Human Developmental Biology
        Models of Human Disease that are Constrained by Current Animal and Cell Culture Models
        Transplantation
        Gene Therapy
Spiritual and Religious Contexts
Ethical Concerns
     The Moral Status of Human Stem Cells
     Moral Issues Surrounding the Sources of Stem Cells
Sources of Stem Cells and Guidelines for Use
Justice Considerations
Funding
Oversight and Accountability
     Private Sector Oversight
     Intellectual Property Considerations
     Public Sector Oversight
Conclusion
Appendix I: Working Group Members
Appendix II: Staff
Appendix III: About AAAS and ICS

Source:

Audrey R. Chapman, Ph.D., Mark S. Frankel, Ph.D., and Michele S. Garfinkel, Ph.D. for the American Association for the Advancement of Science and The Institute for Civil Society

Genetics
Health
Ethics
Opinions
Dolly the Cloned Sheep
Books on Bioethics