Immune regulation by healthy cord blood stem cells can enabling the pancreas to produce insulin by educating T cells, the study by Yong Zhao from University of Illinois at Chicago reported.

The study has been published online January 10, 2012, in BMC Medicine

The authors mention that inability to control autoimmunity is the primary barrier to developing a cure for type 1 diabetes.

For the study Yong Zhao and colleagues develop a stem cell educator therapy in which a patient’s blood is circulated through a closed-loop syserapyhtem that separate lymphocytes from the whole blood and briefly co-cultures them with adherent cord blood stem cells before returning them to the patient’s circulation.

In an open-label trial, 15 patients between age 15-41 years and median history of diabetes received one treatment with the Stem Cell Educator.

The therapy was well tolerated in all participants and persons who received therapy displayed betterment.

In six patients with some residual beta cell functions the therapy markedly improved C-peptide levels, reduced the median glycated hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) values, and decreased the median daily dose of insulin
In six patients with no residual pancreatic islet beta cell function, the treatment also produced an increase in basal and glucose-stimulated C-peptide levels through 40 weeks.

However, participants in the Control Group (n = 3) did not exhibit significant change at any follow-up.

All individuals who received Stem Cell Educator therapy exhibited increased expression of costimulating molecules like CD28 and ICOS, increases in the number of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells, and restoration of Th1/Th2/Th3 cytokine balance.

Authors concluded that stem cell educator therapy is safe, and in individuals with moderate or severe T1D, a single treatment produces lasting improvement in metabolic control. The authos also hinted that immune modulation by cord blood stem cells and the resulting clinical improvement in patient status may have important implications for other autoimmune and inflammation-related diseases.

Source: BMC Medicine 2012, 10:3 doi:10.1186/1741-7015-10-3, Abstract