Researchers may have found a new way to treat type 1 diabetes that might one day mean no more daily insulin shots. They’ve figured out how to make certain cells in the pancreas create insulin.
This discovery comes from scientists at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne. They used ideas from Monash University researchers and tried out two drugs that are usually for cancer.
This research is just starting, and they need to do more tests on animals next. But the main scientist, Sam El-Osta, thinks this could work for both kids and adults in the future.
He explained that they’re getting the pancreas’s leftover cells to act like the ones that normally make insulin. People with diabetes have trouble making or using insulin, which is why they need shots.
The cool part? The drugs they’re using are already okayed by health officials in the U.S.
A Faster Treatment on the Horizon
This new method could work much faster than what’s available now for diabetes. “We’re using these drugs to try and change the cells in a good way,” El-Osta mentioned. This research could be the ‘Holy Grail’ that can make a significant impact on diabetes patients.
Read the full article here to learn more about this exciting discovery!