" But 14 out of 15 young people newly diagnosed with the condition no longer needed injections - sometimes for years - following the stem cell treatment. "

"We would wish to avoid false hope based on the very preliminary nature of these results"

" Type 1 diabetes is caused by the patient's own immune system destroying insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. "

" The researchers, from the University of Sao Paulo, gave the patients powerful drugs to suppress their immune systems in an attempt to stop further destruction of pancreatic cells. "

" This was followed by transfusions of stem cells taken from their own blood, in effect designed to restart the immune system. "

" Some patients reacted more quickly to the treatment than others, and the length of the effect also varied. "

" One patient was able to survive without insulin injections for 35 months, and four others for at least 21 months. "

" Two patients who responded late did not have to inject themselves for one and five months. "

" Previous studies have suggested stem cell therapy might be a promising approach for type 1 diabetes. "

" It is thought that in this instance the stem cells may have generated new immune cells which do not target the pancreas, helping to safeguard what remaining insulin-producing cells the patient has left. "

" However, it is also possible that the treatment may have led to the growth of new insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. "

" A third possibility is that the treatment stimulated an as yet unknown mechanism which stopped existing beta cells being destroyed. "

" The results do throw up the possibility that stem cell therapy could have a dramatic impact. "

" But the study was small, did not monitor the patients for very long and did not compare them with similar patients who were given alternative
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